Harry Potter and the Gift of Time
by DarkPhoenix89
Summary: Just before the 2002 Quidditch World Cup, Harry and Ginny get thrown back in time to the Summer before Harry starts his first year. What do they change? Who do they Tell? DH-compliant HP/GW R/Hr
1. Prologue

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – This is my first go at a Fanfiction so please be gentle, I know that this chapter is rather rubbish, as are the next couple, but please stick with this, when I have completed the story, I will come back and rewrite the early chapters. Please stick with it, you can read the latest reviews if you like.  
Please Read and Enjoy.

* * *

**Prologue **

Ginny Potter was walking along the corridor to the lifts, having just completed the photo shoot for the 2002 England quidditch world cup squad, for which she was lead chaser, with her Holyhead Harpies beater teammate Gwenog Jones as Captain.

When the lift doors opened the disembodied voice echoed out of the lift into the corridor "Department of Magical Games and Sports". 'How Harry puts up with that voice I have no idea' Ginny thought to herself as she entered the lift and pressed the button for the second floor.

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement", Ginny rolled her eyes at the voice and made her way down the corridor into the Auror Office. The sight of Ginny Potter in the Auror office was not an uncommon one and most people didn't bother to stop and look, today however was different, as Ginny was wearing her England Quidditch uniform, her very tight, extremely form-fitting, and quite revealing quidditch uniform.

Ignoring the ogling, which she got practically everywhere and not just because she was Harry Potter's wife, Ginny made her way down to her husband's office but before she had a chance to knock, her favourite voice came from inside the room "Come in Gin".

* * *

Harry was sitting in his office going over evidence and reports of a raid the previous day led by Ron and Neville, whilst Harry had had the day off to visit Teddy. In reality Harry did visit Teddy very briefly, and then apparated silently to the site of the raid and changed into his phoenix animagus form to observe the raid and assist if needed.

Whilst flying high above the raid Harry was using the abilities of a phoenix to observe the entire battle, and if necessary flash down to aid someone with flame travel, a gift which Harry uses every chance he can, as he finds it a lot more comfortable, and far more powerful than apparition. Thankfully during the raid Harry's abilities were not needed.

The mansion that was the target of the raid had been packed full of all manner of artefacts and books most of them dark some bordering on pure evil. The particular artefact that Harry was examining at the moment was very different from the others it was a small round golden disc with an hour-glass etched into it on one side; the reverse was covered in Runes, which was what Harry was translating when he felt Ginny's presence from the direction of the lifts.

Whilst tracking Ginny's presence with his power's, he was translating the first set of runes _"The Power..."_ was as far as he got when Ginny approached the other side of his door, he spoke with the loud clear voice that puts fear into the hearts of dark witches and wizards everywhere, and love into Ginny's heart, "Come in Gin".

* * *

As Ginny entered the office she noticed the wall of most wanted was the emptiest she had ever seen it, with not a single name she recognised. Other than the wall and the huge filing cabinets there wasn't much else in the office aside from the handful of photos on Harry's desk. Their wedding photo, Ron and Hermione's wedding photo, a picture of Ginny at her Hogwarts graduation (which had pride of place, as it was also when he proposed to her), and a family photo which included all 8 Weasley's and there significant others (for those that had them, Charlie was still as single as ever), also in the picture at Harry's insistence was his godson Teddy, with bright blue hair waving at the camera.

As she stepped further into the room, she noticed that Harry was staring at her and despite the fact they had been married for almost 3 years she still blushed slightly at the extra attention her new uniform gave her.

Harry stood up after staring at her, all thoughts of his case and the golden disc leaving his mind, he waved his hand at the door and it closed and sealed.

Ginny turned at the sound of the closing door and turned back to Harry with a smirk on her face and said in her most playful voice "Those wandless abilities of yours are certainly useful".

Harry smiled at her. As she approached the desk, he resumed ogling of his wife, roving his eyes up and down over her white and red uniform, which he thought would be getting more showing off the pitch than her Harpies outfit.

She reached the desk and leaned across it, Harry did the same and as soon as they were close enough Ginny grabbed Harry's neck and pulled him into a deep kiss, Harry put his hand down on the desk to brace himself.

As he did he felt his hand land on something round and cold, before he had time to register what it was, there was a blinding flash of light and a powerful surge of magic the likes of which neither of them had ever felt before.

Then all was dark.

* * *

A/N – The first chapter should be up by Monday.


	2. C 1 : Waking Up

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – This is my first go at a Fanfiction so please be gentle, I hope to be able to update once a week. This chapter hasn't been completely beta'd yet, so there might be the odd mistake, if you find one could you please let me know so I can correct it, thanks, enjoy.

* * *

**Waking Up**

As Harry came round he opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness, he concentrated for a split second to cast a faint lumos spell.

There in front of him was the underside of a flight of stairs, a set of stairs so familiar to Harry that he didn't even have to think about where he was, he knew that. The more pressing question on Harry's mind was when he was, he hadn't been in this cupboard for 11 years. With a wave of his hand he cast the tempus spell (a very useful charm of Hermione's creation), and in shimmering golden letters floating in front of his face appeared:

_21__st__ June 1991 05:42_

After reaching for his glasses and sighing at the state they were in Harry promptly repaired them, then read what the spell had written, and stared at it with his mouth open in shock.

It must have been a good few minutes later when Harry finally recovered from the shock, he thought to himself 'Great I've gone back time; just perfect'.

Harry thought back to his childhood memories, many of which he had blocked out and suppressed with his occlumency, he realised that today was 2 days before the trip to the zoo for Dudley's 11th birthday.

He didn't have his Hogwarts letter yet, he didn't even know he was a wizard, he hadn't met any of his friends or his family...

"Ginny", Harry said out loud, jumped up from the bed, and quickly fell back down again cursing under his breath as he nursed his head from whacking into the stairs.

He quickly healed his head the last thing he needed at the moment was a concussion. He tossed a locking charm and muggle-repelling charm at the door, then transformed and flashed to an orchard in the outskirts of Ottery St. Catchpole next to the site of the home of his first real family. The home of his best friend. The home of his Wife.

The Burrow.

* * *

When Ginny woke up she was very disorientated as she was lying in a bed which felt very familiar to her. Too familiar, then she started being aware of other things like the fact that she was seemingly in her room at the burrow.

After realising this she got out of bed, and fell onto the floor, standing up she realised that she was a lot shorter then she thought she was. Looking down at herself, she realised that she was considerably less developed then she was.

"Oh crap" she muttered under her breath. She ran over to the mirror and tried to guess her age, '9 maybe 10, oh no I have to do Hogwarts all over again' before that line of thought could continue she caught a flash of red and gold out of the corner of her eye.

Running over to the window that over looks the orchard, she saw the bright gold phoenix with red tail feathers and bright emerald eyes that were staring straight at her.

Before she could do anything the phoenix dissappeared in a flash of flame.

* * *

When Harry appeared over the Burrow's orchard he was taking deep breaths, 'damn this body is unfit' he thought has he caught sight of movement in a first floor window.

He saw Ginny staring out at him, and instantly flashed to her room. Appearing behind her, she quickly spun round and said quietly almost to herself "Spikey".

Harry rolled his eyes at the unfortunate nickname he had picked up courtesy of his godson, no matter what he tried with his hair it never lied flat and even as a phoenix he still suffered from the same affliction.

He transformed back and quickly put up some privacy charms before he was tackled to the floor by a red haired missile.

"Hi Gin", Harry just managed to get out before he was pulled into a hug that rivalled Mrs Weasley's, a tricky thing to do when both participants are lying on the floor.

"Oh Harry, whats happened?"

"Well its about 10 to 6 in the morning, on June 21st 1991."

Ginny looked down at him her eyes wide with shock and a little fear.

Harry smiled grimly and continued "My best guess is that the golden disc with the hour glass on one side, that I was looking at when you came into the office, must have been some kind of time turner, but not like any I've ever heard of."

"But time turners send people back physically, and only for a few hours, and it must have been handled by at least half a dozen people, how..."

"I don't know Ginny." Harry interrupted her. "All I know is that we are in our bodies from this time but with our minds and magical abilities in-tact."

"At least you can check your magical abilities; you know I can't do a wandless spell to save my life."

Harry rolled his eyes at her comment; only a tiny handful of people could do basic spells without wands, most of them so simple and weak that they were nothing more than parlour tricks. Albus Dumbledore and Tom Riddle were the only ones who could do anything remotely useful without a wand, but Harry's abilities dwarfed theirs. "As we are both here, I am going to say that yes you will have your magical abilities, we just have to get you your wand."

Ginny sighed, "Ok, so what do we do now?"

Harry sighed and said, "I can still picture the back of it pretty clearly, if we could finish the translation maybe we might get some answers."

"I wonder if my mum has a copy of the Syllabary."

"There's a simple way to find out." Harry raised his hand to open the door a fraction, and then concentrated on Spellman's Syllabary a few seconds later the book was floating through the open door straight into Harry's waiting hand. With a flick of his wrist he closed and sealed the door again.

After about an hour of working, Harry had drawn out all of the runes on a piece of conjured parchment, and was over halfway done with the translation.

With Ginny sound asleep, her head lying in his lap, Harry heard what he presumed was Mrs Weasley moving around upstairs.

He quickly shook Ginny awake much to her annoyance, but she quickly lost the annoyance when she too heard her mother moving around upstairs, she kissed harry on the cheek, jumped back into bed, and told him to get going.

"I'll meet you in the orchard after lunch." she whispered, Harry nodded his head in confirmation of her suggestion, quickly packed up the parchment and quill, shrunk the book so he good stuff it into Dudley's oversized pyjama trousers he was still wearing. He dropped the privacy charms, unsealed the door, transformed and flashed back to his cupboard.

He emptied his pockets, and looked at the parchment with the translation on, "_the power of time is gifted to only"_. 'Well at least that confirms we have gone back in time' Harry thought. He did another tempus spell and saw that it was gone 7am, he should have been up half an hour ago to start making the Dursley's breakfast.

Harry had half a mind to just leave the muggle-repelling charm up and go to the Leaky Cauldron for breakfast, but he couldn't do that just yet, he was still supposed to be a normal 10 year old boy, who thought his parents had died in a car crash.

So reluctantly Harry hid the parchment and still shrunken book and dropped the charms on the door. As soon as the charms were down his uncles voice could probably be heard half way down the street, "Boy get out here now!"

"Here goes." Harry muttered to himself.

* * *

A/N – From here on, the story is mainly going to focus on Harry's pov, don't worry I'm not abandoning Ginny (she is my favourite), it's just that like the books are 95% told from Harry's perspective with a little bit of someone else's pov at the start so this will be the same.


	3. C 2 : A Second Chance

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – I know some, possibly most of you were hoping for this a bit sooner, and I apologise for that, but I had some big news in the week, and well, writing took a back seat. But enough of my drabble.

* * *

**A Second Chance**

As Harry entered the kitchen of number 4 Privet Drive, he was greeting by his very irate uncle, having a go at him for not having breakfast ready.

'Hmm a quick confundus charm and all will be fine' Harry thought to himself, and then sighed internally, 'not yet'.

"Yes Uncle Vernon, I'll have breakfast ready in a couple of minutes." Harry said with the most emotionless voice he could manage. It was a tone his uncle was used to.

"Well it's about bloody time boy." Vernon said with his usual demeanour towards Harry.

After the Dursley's had had breakfast and Harry had been given his customary slice of burnt toast, it was time for school. Of course Harry had no intention of actually going but he had to go through the motions.

When Vernon dropped them off, Harry quickly hit Dudley with a confundus charm, "When you get home you will tell your parents I have been in school all day." Dudley repeated the sentence back to Harry with his eyes unfocused. Harry left Dudley there and quickly moved into the school to find his teacher and do the same to him.

20 Minutes later Harry was leaving the school grounds, he found a quiet spot in the local park, cast a notice-me-not charm, and set to work finishing the translation.

About half an hour later, Harry sat back up, and looked down at the piece of parchment in front of him _"The power of time is gifted to only those of light and love."_

Harry sat there thinking about what that meant. The part about 'of light' would be the reason why none of the captured dark witches and wizards could have used it. But as for the part about love, that had Harry confused.

Most of those involved in the raid, were in love with girlfriends, or wives. Ron who was most defiantly in love with his wife, had handled this thing, and nothing happened.

"Hmm" Harry muttered to himself, and then it hit him "Ginny". 'The two of us combined must have triggered the thing" Harry thought.

Whilst Harry was thinking about the kiss that was responsible for bringing them here, a stray thought struck him, there was a place in the wizarding world that dealt with Time and Love, maybe he could find out some more answers there.

With that thought Harry packed up his stuff, dropped the charm, and made himself invisible, then flashed into the circular entrance room of the Department of Mysteries.

* * *

"Show me the Time Chamber" Harry said out loud to the room. A door to his left opened, very quietly and carefully, Harry made his way into the Time Chamber.

'Gin is going to kill me when I get out of here' Harry thought as he continued deeper into the long room, trying to find anything that resembled a bookcase or an office that might hold some information.

After several hours and five close encounters with unspeakable's, two of which were a bit too close for comfort, Harry thought that maybe it was time to call it quits.

He still had over an hour to wait before meeting up with Ginny again, so he decided to stick around a bit more.

After another half an hour of finding nothing, Harry began to make his way back to the circular room, on his way he past a large cabinet full of differently shaped hour glasses, Harry went over for a closer look.

Unfortunately none of them were a match to one that had sent him here, 'well I guess we are stuck here then' Harry grimly thought to himself. 'If we are stuck here then a time-turner could be very useful'. Harry quickly looked round to make sure there was no one about, then opened the cupboard and picked one out, which looked exactly like the one Hermione had during third year.

With his newly acquired time-tuner on its chain securely around his neck, Harry made his way out of the Time Chamber quickly and stealthily. Once in the circular chamber he flashed himself to the orchard at The Burrow.

* * *

Arriving at The Burrow, Harry saw Ginny waiting for him in one of the deepest parts of the orchard, he flashed behind her, and she quickly jumped up, and hugged him. When she let him go several minutes later Harry thought she had tried to hug the life out of him.

After Harry recovered his breath, and put up some privacy charms, he whispered to her "Hey" he said it whilst looking down into her eyes.

Ginny looked back up at him, "Hey. I missed you."

Harry laughed, "I could tell." Ginny playfully slapped him on the arm at that.

"It was so frustrating having to act the innocent little girl again, having to deal with Mum and Ron. Oh god Ron, I don't remember him being this bad before, but I guess he must have been, it took 7 years of Hermione to finally sort him out."

Harry tried very hard to not burst out laughing, honestly he did try very hard, but he just couldn't hold it in any longer, and promptly collapsed on the floor in hysterics. After trying to glower at him unsuccessfully for a few seconds, Ginny quickly joined him.

"You are not the only one who has had to act the innocent little child today, I was back to being Harry Potter the house-elf, when I got back this morning." Harry said in a tone that made Ginny sit up instantly, scoot closer to him, and wrap her arms around him.

"I'm sorry Harry, I know how awful your life there was, and now having to relive it, I'm sorry." She laughed once without emotion "Here's me complaining about dealing with Ron and Mum whilst you get treated like a Malfoy house-elf, I'm sorry Harry." Ginny said with her throat starting to close up.

Harry seeing that Ginny was near tears, quickly wrapped his arms around her returning the hug, and said "It's alright Gin. I'll be alright. We'll be alright." Ginny looked up at him, and stared straight into his eyes.

After what felt like hours, of looking into each other's eyes, but what was in reality only a few seconds, the two of them sighed and shifted into a more comfortable position. Harry was leaning against a tree with Ginny lying down on the ground her head in his lap.

"So what have you been up to since you left, I know you had to make breakfast, but I'm guessing you didn't go to Muggle School?" Ginny said smirking at the last part. Harry looked down at her and smiled.

"No I didn't go to Muggle School, I went to the park." Harry said with the hint of a smile playing at his lips. Ginny looked up at him, with a questioning glance and said "What?"

"I went to the park." Harry said trying to maintain a straight face.

"You went to the park!" Ginny said in a tone that if it came from Mrs Weasley, would have all the men quivering in fear. The effect was somewhat diminished when coming from Ginny.

Harry, hearing the undercurrent in her voice, and seeing the look in her eyes, stopped trying to hold back his laughter, and for the second time in as many minutes dissolved into hysterics.

"I'm sorry Gin, but I couldn't resist." Harry looked down at her, and seeing that she was still a bit mad him, said the one thing that could get through to her, "Gin, I love you." The words had the desired effect as she quickly jumped up and sat in his lap. She was about to kiss him, but Harry held up 2 of his fingers and put them against her lips, "Not yet, we are too young for anything other than one on the cheek or a hug."

Ginny was taken aback by his statement, after a few seconds had past, she opened her mouth to reply but, Harry seeing that she was about to argue, quickly interjected, "Ginny you are at the moment only 9 years old, I am only 10, it is not right, I know mentally and emotionally we are far beyond those years, but these are the bodies we are stuck with, which means, nothing beyond what we have done already today can happen for a couple of years at least. I'm sorry."

Ginny, managed to blink back the tears, his speech at given her, but he had seen them, and reached up to cradle her head in his hands. She deliberately wasn't looking at him, so he said, "Gin, please look at me."

Ginny hearing the love, and pain in his voice looked up at him, smiling internally, Harry said "I love you Ginny Potter" she couldn't help the small smile that graced her lips when he used her name.

He continued to stare her in the eyes, she wondered if he was using legilimency on him, but she quickly crushed that thought, Harry had sworn that he would never do that to her. Deep down she knew he was right; they were too young to do anything other than hug and the odd kiss on the check.

Ginny sighed, and then said staring back into his eyes, "I love you Harry Potter, and I agree with you." She paused, thinking about how she was going to say the next thing, "I know it will be several years before we can even think about it but, I want you to know now, I will not be waiting till our wedding night." Ginny said with a look that had no place on a 9 year old girl.

Harry blushed at the memories of their wedding night, and smiled back at her, "Ok. It is going to be many years, but ok."

Smiling back at him, she kissed him on the cheek and hugged him, as he hugged her back she said "I think I could get used to having to do this all the time." Harry pulled back and kissed her on the cheek and said "Yes I think I could as well."

After Ginny had moved back to lying down, Harry carried on with his tale of the morning. "I finished the translation" Ginny looked up at him sharply, and he said "_the power of time is gifted to only those of light and love_."

Ginny looked thoughtful for a minute and then gasped, "The kiss in your office, this is my fault..." she descended into sobs, Harry quickly scooped her up, and whispered in her ear, "No its not. Like it says we have been given a gift, The Gift of Time, and I for one fully intend to use it." Harry said the last part with a cold determination that Ginny had not heard since the early days of his career in the Auror's.

She managed to control her sobs and leaned back to look at the cold determination in his eyes, the look of a seasoned, (and much to Harry's annoyance) decorated war hero looked extremely out of place on a skinny, scrawny 10 year old boy with old clothes that were several sizes too big.

She said "You're going to stop the War?"

Harry nodded slowly, and looked at her, "Yes, I am."

* * *

A/N – The next chapter is going to be very heavy on dialogue, so please bear with me if it takes me a while to get up.


	4. C 3 : What to Change

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – First off my apologies for taking so long to get this up, as you will see its the longest chapter so far by quite a way and has had several re-writes. Also there is a flashback scene in this chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

**What to Change**

Ginny looked up at Harry, "How?"

"By making sure he doesn't make it out of that graveyard alive." Harry said whilst looking over her shoulder into the distance.

She could tell he was remembering that night and hugged him tighter, "To do that, you are going to have to change a few things."

"I know, and we are going to have to tell someone the truth, I can't do it all by myself." Harry quickly realised what he had said, and closed his eyes in preparation for Ginny's outburst. After a couple of seconds of nothing, Harry opened one eye to see Ginny looking at him with a thoughtful expression on her face, "What?"

Ginny rolled her eyes at him, true she wanted to yell and scream at him, but she knew he was right, she wouldn't be able to help him, while she may have got 6 NEWT's with 4 O's, she was nowhere near powerful enough to help Harry. Harry would be too worried about her to be effective, if she accompanied him on excursions, she would probably be more of a hindrance then a help. "Your right, you can't do it all by yourself, and I can't help you."

Harry stared at her in shock and disbelief "You're not mad that I said that?"

Ginny replied, smiling slightly now "I was at first, but then I realised that you are right. I'm a quidditch player, I may have the reflexes and reactions to be able to help, but I don't come close to being magically able to help you, and that is what you'll need. I can do what you have done for me the past 3 years."

Harry looked at her quizzically. Ginny laughed at his expression then kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear "Be in the stands, yelling support louder than anyone else." Harry blushed as he remembered Ginny's early matches when he and he alone could be heard above the whole crowd even through the wind and rain.

"All right then." Harry conceded, "Who do I tell? Dumbledore? Remus? Sirius...SIRIUS!" Harry leapt to his feet, but before he could transform Ginny got her hands wrapped around him.

"Harry stop. You can't go running off to break him out of Azkaban, he... he has to stay there." Harry shot her a murderous look so she quickly added "At least for now." Harry relaxed slightly, but Ginny could tell he was still on edge, "Harry please, let me explain my reasons, then if you don't believe me, I won't try and stop you from breaking him out." As Ginny said the last part, she looked him straight in the eye so he would know she meant it. Harry relaxed a little more and nodded his head.

Ginny took the nod as the cue to start explaining, "You said you want to end Tom in that graveyard." Harry stiffened slightly at the mention of one of his worst nightmares, but nodded his head. "Right, in order for you to do that Pettigrew has to escape at the end of your third year and run off to find him, correct?"

Harry turned to look at her, the realisation of what she was talking about finally sinking in, "To make sure Pettigrew doesn't escape too early; Sirius can't escape until the summer before third year at the earliest." Harry sighed, "I'm not sure I can leave him in there for 2 more years Gin."

Ginny, seeing that he wasn't going to give in easily tried a different tactic, "Can you leave Pettigrew alive till the graveyard?"

Harry looked at her slightly taken aback by her statement, could he leave the rat alive till the showdown in the graveyard? Harry stayed in thought for several minutes, bouncing ideas around his head about how to deal with Pettigrew early, but he could come up with nothing. Harry sighed again, this time in resignation, "Yes, I can. He needs to be left alive till the end."

Ginny smiled at him, "Good, then you understand that Sirius needs to stay in Azkaban until the time is right." Harry looked at her sharply realising that she was using Dumbledore's logic on him, '_you must make the choice between what is right and what is easy_.' Harry hung his head, accepting that the next few years were going to be very difficult.

"Alright then," Harry said, startling Ginny that she had gotten through to him, "If I can't tell Sirius for 2 years, oh and when it's time for him to break out, I'll be breaking him out, and he can stay at the house in Godric's Hollow. I won't have him wandering the country for 9 months, living off scraps." Harry sighed, it was going to be quite a while before he could escape his aunt and uncle to repair his parent's house, and move in, and even longer till Ginny could join him there.

Ginny seeing that he was getting lost in thoughts and memories about their home interrupted his thoughts, "If you can't tell Sirius, the next best person would surely be Lupin?" Ginny knew that while Lupin would be a good choice, he wasn't the best choice; Harry would have to come up with the idea to tell the best choice himself.

"Remus would be a good person to tell, but not until I have Sirius in the loop, which leaves one person who, I'm not sure if we should tell." Ginny looked up at him expectantly, Harry rolled his eyes, he knew that she knew exactly who he was on about, but she still wanted him to say it "Dumbledore."

"Why shouldn't we tell Dumbledore, he could help" Harry stopped her before she could continue, "Yes he could help, but he admitted to me himself, he shouldn't be entrusted with power, and knowledge of the future, is an awful lot of power."

Ginny didn't recall Harry ever mentioning that about Dumbledore, but decided it would be best to accept it, "Fair enough Harry, but you can't deny that we need him on our side working with us, not against us?" Harry absently nodded his head, Ginny smiled at the little victory she had got.

"Alright, I'll tell him, when I get to Hogwarts. I'll have to break him to do it though." Ginny looked confused, so Harry explained "I'll have to tell him about his family, about Grindelwald, and about the hallows. That's not a conversation I am looking forward to." Harry finished with a small shiver of dread of the upcoming meeting with his mentor.

"Ok, that is settled then, you will tell Dumbledore the truth. In the meantime, what are we going to do? Are you going to let Hagrid come and get you from the Dursley's? Or are you going to get away as soon as your letter arrives, and stay at the Leaky?"

"I'm not sure. I don't like being defenceless, I know the war isn't on at the moment, but I still feel almost naked without my wand. So I will probably go as soon as my letter arrives, I'll have to use a couple of charms on my aunt and uncle to get it, but I have no problem with that." Harry smirked slightly at the last part; he was going to have some fun with the Dursley's this time around.

Ginny looked puzzled, "But you don't need your wand to defend yourself; you can do everything without it!" Ginny's voice was rising at the end as she struggled to understand why Harry would feel naked without his wand.

Harry pulled her back into a hug, "Yes I can do almost every spell without my wand, but they are more powerful with it." Seeing that Ginny was about to speak Harry continued "I can't do the ones that require emotional power without my wand."

"Oh." Ginny said into his chest, as he hadn't let the hug go, "You mean a Patronus?"

Harry hesitated for a brief moment, and then replied "Yes.", He broke the hug, and Ginny looked up at him, he knew that she had caught his hesitation. He sighed knowing that this wouldn't go down well, "There are five spells which I need my wand for, the 2 types of Patronus and..." He looked away from her; he heard the intake of breath, as she worked out what the other 3 spells were.

Whilst Harry sat there, waiting for Ginny to say something, he thought back to his Auror training, when they covered the unforgivables. Harry knew why they had to learn about them, but had yet to get an answer to his question as to why they were taught how to use them. He also remembered when he was called up to Kingsley's Office to deal with the Dementors...

_**18 Months after the War ended  
**_

_The paper airplane landed on Harry's desk in the Auror Office, he picked it up and looked at the seal _From the Office of the Minister for Magic_ 'Hmm, Kingsley never normally bothers with these' Harry thought to himself, he opened it out and read what it said:_

Deputy Head Auror Harry J. Potter

Your presence in the Minister's office is requested immediately.

Sincerely  
Senior Undersecretary of the Minister for Magic  
Percy Weasley

_Harry eyes widened slightly, why was he being called to the minister's office immediately? And why was the message from Percy and not Kingsley himself? Rather than sit there and debate the issue, Harry quickly stood-up and straightened out his Auror robes, and made his way up to the Minister's office._

_When he arrived he sensed that there was something not right, the corridor was empty, the receptionist was nowhere to be seen, Harry immediately snapped his wand into his hand from the hidden holster on his wrist, a gift from Ollivander after the war. He made his way slowly and carefully down to the Ministers door._

_As he got closer to the door he reached out with his magic to try and sense who was in the room, he sensed Kingsley, 2 people he didn't recognise and Hermione. 'Hermione! What is she doing here?' Harry thought to himself, he reached further into the room, and then he felt it, the shivering cold, the feeling of never being happy, "Dementors"_

_Harry entered the office and there in the corner was a Dementor being held at bay by four Patronuses. Harry saw the other 2 people that he had sensed were dressed in the robes of unspeakable's and his confusion deepened. He had read the reports of the Dementor attacks across the country. They were getting more and more restless in the past few months, especially with the Ministries continued stance of not allowing them to return to Azkaban._

_Given the two unknown people in the room, Harry thought it best to be polite and follow protocol "You asked for me Minister?" Hermione, who had been deep in conversation with the unspeakable's and so hadn't heard Harry come in, ran over to him, and was about to hug him when she caught herself, and held out her hand._

_Harry smiled at her exuberance, and shook her hand; clearly whatever was going on was important and exciting to her. He looked at her expectantly and she smiled sheepishly at him, then it hit him, this was about him in some way. He started to scowl at her, "Hermione what have you gotten me into?"_

_Hermione had the decency to blush in embarrassment, "The Minister approached me a few months ago to ask me if I had any ideas on how to deal with the Dementor problem. I started researching them, and, well they can't be contained except by Patronuses," she nodded over to the corner where the four silvery animals were still patrolling around the Dementor, "and they couldn't be killed."_

_She looked up at Harry waiting for him to speak; it took him a minute to catch what she had said, "Couldn't be... You've found a way to kill a Dementor!" Harry asked her, though it came out as more of a yell._

_She smiled brightly at him and nodded. She gestured over to the unspeakable's "They have been helping me work out the mechanics of the spell, as this one is a lot more complex than the time charm."_

_Harry nodded; he had studied up on ancient runes and arithmancy a little to be an Auror. After Hermione had created the time spell and it became widespread Harry had a look into making some new defensive spells. After over a year of working and research he had came up with the Protego Maximus charm, a shield that if cast effectively would stop anything and everything. Only Harry and Ron had been able to cast it successfully, Ron only after a lot of coaching from Harry, and even then it wouldn't last very long for him._

_"So..." Harry began, Hermione carried on, "It's a modification of the Patronus charm, when the corporeal form makes contact with the Dementor, it should kill it." Again Harry caught her careful choice of words, "I'm the guinea pig aren't I?" whilst the 2 unspeakable's look confused, Kingsley chuckled and Hermione nodded._

_Harry sighed, "All right then whats the incantation, and does it still need the same emotions behind it?"_

_Hermione beamed at him, "The incantation is Trucido Patronum, as with the normal Patronus charm there is no special wand movement, but as for the emotions... Well with a normal one, you need your best memories, with this version... you need your worst memories. You have to use the memories the Dementor makes you relive, allow them to fill you up like normal, and then cast it." Hermione quickly rushed through the explanation about the memories without looking at Harry, knowing what she was asking of him._

_Harry looked on grimly, knowing that he was about to relive his worst memories of the war, he concentrated on his memories of the numerous battles he was part of, the ones he had lost:- Sirius, Remus, Fred, Tonks, Colin, Mad-eye, Hedwig, Dumbledore, as the memories of their deaths swam into his mind, he focused the feeling from them down his wand, pointed it at the Dementor, which was now gliding towards him as the others had dropped the guards, and practically yelled out "Trucido Patronum!"_

_Everyone including Harry stared on in shock as a phoenix burst forth from Harry's wand, but instead of the usual pearly white glow, it was pure black, yet still glowing strongly with its darkness generating an aura around it, almost making it appear as a shadow. As quickly as it had appeared the black phoenix flew straight into the Dementors chest, there was an unearthly scream from the creature as the phoenix flew straight through its chest. The Dementor began to dissolve from the chest outwards in an almost blinding show of pure white light, whilst still screaming._

_When the creature was no more, Harry's phoenix faded out, everyone in the room just stayed silent in shock at what they had just witnessed. Kingsley was the first to speak up, "Harry, I thought your Patronus was a stag?"_

_Harry shook his head to try and help clear the memories, "It used to be, I...Hang on. Expecto Patronum!" A massive phoenix of white light burst forth from Harry's phoenix feather wand, after circling round the room, it broke up into dozens of smaller phoenix's, each only a tiny bit smaller then the black one. After the Mini-Patronuses had flown around the room they too faded out. The 2 unspeakable's having witnessed the success of the spell, and Harry's display of magic, left quickly._

_Harry knew that his Patronus had changed because he was now an animagus, but the only ones aware of that, were Ginny, Ron and Hermione, and he wanted it to stay that way. Harry shot a quick glance at Hermione hoping she would come up with an answer, he thanked his luck when she quickly winked at him, and spoke to Kingsley "Harry has had a great emotional change after the War, with getting back together with Ginny, and getting married, and with the whole dying and coming back to life thing as well, I think it's fairly obvious why his Patronus is now a phoenix. You haven't cast a Patronus since the battle of Hogwarts, have you Harry?_

_Harry reading Hermione's look quickly nodded, "No I haven't cast one since then." Kingsley seemed satisfied with this, and he said, "Well then, thank you Harry for that test, and wonderful demonstration, I trust you have some work to get back to." Harry nodded at him then looked at Hermione, now they were alone she hugged him goodbye, Kingsley was moving back to his desk so either didn't see or pretended not to notice, Harry thought it was the latter._

_Harry left the office thinking that this new Patronus spell was probably going to be as hard to cast for others as his own shield charm was._

Harry snapped out of his memories when Ginny reached up to grab his face, "Harry, I love you. I know that you would never use those spells, even as a last resort. I can also guess that the only reason you have cast the killing curse was for training?" Harry still refused to meet her gaze, and nodded his head. "Then there is nothing to feel ashamed about." Harry finally looked up at her, and seeing that she was smiling at him with her love for him in her eyes, he smiled back and hugged her tightly. "Can't breathe." Ginny managed to choke out.

After Ginny had got her breath back they both laid down on the grass, the pair of them still hidden by Harry's charms. Harry waved his hand to check the time; he only had an hour before he had to get back to school so Vernon could collect him and Dudley. Ginny seeing the time as well cuddled up closer to him. Harry smiled at her reaction.

Harry carried on the conversation they were on before they got side-tracked with his wandless abilities, "So once my letter arrives, I'll be straight off to Diagon alley... Actually, I will wait until my aunt and uncle move me into Dudley's second bedroom, then disappear off to the Leaky, and deal with being _The Boy Who Lived_ again, at least it is slightly better than _The Chosen one_ or _The Saviour_."

Ginny smiled at him, "Yeah it will be slightly better, but what are you going to do in the mean time? Your Hogwarts letter won't arrive for over a month!" Ginny tried not to think about what she was going to do; it would be a whole year before she could go to Hogwarts, a whole year apart from Harry.

As Harry looked down at her to answer, he saw the look in her eyes, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed it gently, "It will be alright Gin, I can flash over before the Christmas holidays, and help you sabotage your parents eventual plan to go to Romania, then we can be together for Christmas."

Ginny had managed to hold back the tears that threatened, "But how? I wouldn't have met you yet; we would have to act like we didn't know each other." Ginny's voice was starting to break, so she quickly rolled over and buried her face into Harry's shoulder.

Harry thought quickly trying to come up with a way to meet and get to know Ginny before he was invited over by Ron for the Christmas holidays. Then he had a brainwave, "We could write to each other." Ginny looked up at him her eyes watery and red from holding back tears, "How?" seeing the mischievous look on Harry's face she quickly added, "And don't say an Owl." Harry smiled at her.

"When your family come to Diagon Alley to get your brothers school stuff, I will already be staying at the Leaky. We could _bump _into each other, and become quick friends. I could say something like 'You are the first friend I've ever had. I have just got an owl, could I maybe write to you. You could tell me about the wizarding world?'" Harry paused for a moment then smiled and continued "If I say that within ear-shot of your mother, I'll be lucky if she doesn't drag me straight out of the leaky to come and stay with you." Harry enjoyed watching Ginny's face light up as he said the last part.

Ginny was listening to his idea, and liked the sound of his story; it would give them an excuse to get to write, so that it wouldn't be weird if they were friends at Christmas. As he said the last part, she beamed at him, knowing he was right. Her mother would never allow an eleven year old boy to live on his own, even if there was adult supervision.

Harry grinned at her, "Well now that's settled. I will probably have to go to Muggle School, at least for a few minutes each morning to confund Dudley and the teacher. After I've done that, I'll probably start some of the physical training program me and Ron came up with for the Auror's, this body is dreadfully unfit. Aside from that there isn't really much I can do until my letter comes and I can go and get my wand."

Ginny smiled at him, remembering the effects that training program had had originally, "We still have a lot to talk about, regarding what we're going to do to change the timeline. Or are you going to wait until we can talk about that with Dumbledore?"

Harry was thoughtful for several minutes thinking about that, "Despite what he will say, I'm going to insist we stick as close as possible to the original timeline, or at least leave the big events unchanged, I refuse to be blind to you until my 6th year." Ginny smiled at the acknowledgement of his blindness to her.

"This coming year with Quirrell and the stone, I'm going to leave be, and do exactly what we did last time. Although I will have to push them in the right direction, given that Hagrid won't be collecting me and taking it from Gringotts. Actually now I think about it, maybe it would be for the best if I waited that extra week for Hagrid to come and collect me, if I don't it could raise a few questions that would be difficult to answer." Harry said that whilst remembering all that had happened in his first year, the flying lesson, the Quidditch, Halloween and the troll, the lessons, friends.

Ginny thought about that for a second and realised that if Harry wasn't there with Hagrid when he got the stone it would raise some questions about his knowledge from Ron and Hermione. "You are probably right about that, but what _are_ you going to do about your friends, Ron and Hermione in particular?" Ginny asked him, "Are we going to tell them? Are we going to tell my brothers, my parents?"

Harry laid there thinking about that, he was fairly certain he would tell Ron and Hermione the truth at some point, but as for the others, he wasn't sure. "I don't know Gin. I will tell Ron and Hermione, but only when the time is right. As for the others, I'm not sure, I would like to get Neville out of his shell a lot earlier this time round, but I'm not sure if that would interfere with getting the stone. But as for telling him and the other students, No I don't think I will."

Ginny propped herself up on her elbow, so she could look into his face, "Are you sure about that Harry, they are your friends? And what about my family are we going to tell them when the time is right, or not at all?" Harry looked back to her, and said "Yes they are my friends, and yes they are my family, and given time I will probably once again trust them with my life. But the more people who know the truth, the more difficult and dangerous our goal could become."

Ginny sighed, "I guess you are right, but I don't like having to lie to my family, my parents especially." Harry also sighed at the difficult prospect that lay before them, "You won't have to lie to them too much Ginny, you just can't tell them the whole truth. It may be a small technicality, but when you think about it, it is a big difference."

They laid there in a comfortable silence for several minutes before Harry spoke up, "As for everything that happens at Hogwarts, I think the best policy will be to deal with it all, one year at a time, or even a term at a time." Ginny nodded her head whilst snuggled into his shoulder; Harry decided to go back to the topic of Ginny's year, "What about you? You are going to have to be here all year with just your parents."

Ginny shivered slightly at the prospect of that, but knew that she would have to be strong if her parents weren't going to get suspicious, "I know. Over the next month leading up to you getting your letter, we will have to try and see each other less, so that we can cope with being separated come September." Ginny sniffed at the held back tears that were beginning anew, they hadn't been apart for more than 2 days since the end of the war. It was going to be very hard on both them. She looked up to see Harry's face and saw that he was deep in thought, "What are you thinking about?"

Harry snapped out of it, and looked at her with a smile on his face, "I think I have an idea that will mean we can talk to each other every day, without anyone else knowing." Ginny stared at him with a confused look on her face, she asked him "How?" Harry kissed her on the cheek, and whispered in her ear, "Two-way mirrors." Ginny's face lit up at that, she pushed Harry back, and climbed on top of him, she was about to lean down and kiss him senseless, when she remembered their earlier discussion, sighing she leaned down and planted a big kiss on both of his cheeks and hugged him as fiercely as she had when they first arrived in this time.

Once Ginny had let him go Harry beamed back at her, knowing that even if he couldn't get away from the Dursley's or Hogwarts, they would still be able to see and talk to each other, "Right then now that's settled, I should be getting back to Muggle school, Vernon will be there soon to pick me and Dudders up." Ginny giggled at Harry's use of his cousin's nickname.

Ginny hugged him again, "Ok. Will I see you later today?" Harry shook his head, "I don't think I'll be able to get away till I'm back in my cupboard, and with the early start this morning, I will probably be asleep pretty quickly. I'll spend tomorrow morning getting a hold of and setting up those mirrors. I'll flash over after lunch, to give them to you." Harry sighed knowing that she really wasn't going to like what he had to say next, "After we have the mirrors, I don't think I should come over very often" Seeing the dangerous look in her eyes, Harry quickly continued "if you spend all day outside doing nothing your parents will start to ask questions, and I can't keep staying over and flashing back to school, I could get caught."

Harry laid there watching Ginny slowly relax as his words sank in, and she realised he was right. She reluctantly agreed, "Alright, but I want to see you at least twice a week." Harry deciding that he had gotten of lightly quickly approved of that plan. As he was getting ready to transform and leave, Ginny quickly remembered something from earlier, "Harry?" He stopped and turned to her. She carried on, "You said earlier that Dumbledore had told you himself that he shouldn't be entrusted with power." Harry slowly nodded his head, not liking where this line of questioning was going to lead, whilst he had told Ginny and many others that he had died back in the forest, he had told no-one about his Kings Cross dream.

Ginny not noticing the warning look in Harry's eyes, or choosing to ignore it, pressed on, "When did he tell you that? I don't recall you ever mentioning that conversation with him."

Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath, knowing that she wasn't going to let this go, keeping his eyes closed he let his breath go, "Ginny, when I died in the forest, I had a kind of dream." He heard her intake of breath, he opened his eyes, when she saw the emotion behind them, she hung her head, immediately regretting her decision to ask him, but before she could tell him to stop, he continued "The dream took place in a version of Kings Cross station. Dumbledore was there. We sat down on a pair of chairs and we talked. He explained to me what had happened with my wand during the battle over Little Whinging. We talked about the Deathly Hallows. We talked about..." Harry stopped dead in his tracks.

Ginny looked up at his sudden silence and almost collapsed at the knees from the look on Harry's face. It was a look she had never seen before.

Fear.

She wanted to run over and throw her arms around him, but something about that look kept her routed to the spot, she took some calming breaths, and practically whispered "Harry, what is it?"

Harry looked up to meet her eyes, "We..." Harry cleared his throat several times and began again with a shaky voice, "We talked about Riddle's Horcruxes, or rather we talked about just one of them." Harry stopped again and took another deep shaky breath, "When I told you and the others the story, there was something I left out, something that I only told Ron and Hermione." Ginny crushed the feeling of being left out as it poked its head up, and nodded for Harry to continue, "Riddle made six Horcruxes, but he actually had seven." Harry continued to stare into her eyes, willing her to understand and not make him say it, when he just saw the blank look, he sighed internally, and carried on, "The reason I went into the forest to die, wasn't to provide everyone with protection, it was so I could destroy the 7th Horcrux. The Horcrux that only Voldemort himself could destroy." Harry stopped taking another deep breath and steeling himself for her reaction, "The Horcrux that was in me."

Ginny stayed staring at him, in shock at what he was saying, Harry, her Harry was a Horcrux, no she wouldn't accept that, it had been destroyed in their past, he was free of it. She snapped out of her shock, and spoke in a remarkably clear voice that Harry was slightly taken aback at, she said "It's gone, he destroyed it." Harry desperately wanted to believe her, "I want to believe you Gin, I really do, but I... I'm not sure it is gone." Ginny violently shook her head, "It's gone, it has to be gone, you can't die, not ag..." Ginny collapsed to the ground her body shaking with sobs as she cried her eyes out at the memory of seeing Harry dead in Hagrid's arms. Harry rushed to her side and hugged her tightly as he too started to cry at the memory of his walk into the forest.

Sometime later once they had both calmed down, Ginny who's voice was shakier then it had ever been broke the silence, "Is... is there a way to know for sure?" Harry closed his eyes and nodded his head, "Yeah, there is a way." Ginny looked back up at him, He continued his voice becoming stronger "Parseltongue." Ginny's eyes widened and her lips parted slightly, Harry pressed on, "If I am a Parselmouth, then I am a Horcrux." Ginny took a moment to process that then spoke up, her voice much steadier now as well, "Then we need to find you a snake." Harry smiled slightly at her plan, then a thought struck him, he quickly waved his hand to check the date and swallowed the gulp when he saw that he was over an hour late for uncle Vernon, ignoring that for now, he saw the date _21__st__ June_, he smiled a bit more. The day that he had first talked to a snake was less than 2 days away, Dudley's birthday trip to the zoo.

He looked down at her, "We'll know in 2 days." He could see Ginny was confused so he explained further "Dudley's birthday, his parents take him to the zoo, and thanks to Mrs Figg I get to tag along. We go to the reptile house, and... well last time I ended up setting a boa constrictor free, and getting Dudley trapped in its enclosure."

Ginny giggled a little at that mental image, "Then we wait till then." Harry nodded at her, forcing all of his occlumency shields up, to try and stop dwelling on what it would mean if he could talk to that boa constrictor.

Harry agreed, "Then we wait." He stood up, helping her to his feet as well, seeing the state her face and hair was in, he smiled sadly at her. He waved his hand at her face and cast a glamour charm on her so her parents didn't ask questions. She thanked him with a hug and kisses on the cheeks then made her way back towards the house.

Harry knew his uncle would be in a right mood and that he would probably have to confund him, and once aunt Petunia saw Vernon's lack of reaction, Harry would most likely have to confund her as well. Dudley would hopefully just accept it; if he didn't it would be confundus charms all-round.

Harry sighed, and dropped the privacy charms then flashed back to the alley near his Muggle School.

* * *

A/N – I am not sure when I'll get the next chapter up, it should hopefully be by the end of the weekend. Again my apologies for taking so long to get this up, as you've now read it I hope you can understand why it took so much time and why it has had several re-writes.


	5. C 4 : Am I or Aren't I

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – I could go ahead and make my excuses for this being a week later then I wanted, but there is no point. I have a life (apparently) so things will come up. Anyway I hope you like this.

* * *

**Am I or Aren't I?**

When Harry turned the corner into the school playground he saw his Uncle waiting for him with Dudley sitting on the floor. Harry approached as quietly as he could without using magic, then when he was close enough he sent a confundus in Vernon's direction, and hoped Dudley would be too stupid to realise that there was something odd about his Father's behaviour.

Thankfully Dudley did accept Vernon's slightly cross-eyed nod of acceptance at Harry's explanation of a detention; that is until the 3 of them arrived home to a rather irate Petunia.

Petunia had been worried sick about her ickle Dudders and concerned about her husband; as usual she had no concern over Harry's well being. Harry seeing the look in her eyes the second they crossed the threshold very subtle waved his hand to throw a confundus at her, with the charm in place she bought Harry's story, but Dudley didn't buy is Mothers rapid change in demeanour; Harry sighed at having to confund all 3 of his relatives.

With the 3 of them suffering the after effects of Harry's more-powerful-than-the-average-wizard's charms, dinner was a quiet affair in which Harry actually got to eat a decent size meal for once, it was still smaller than Dudley's but it was an improvement.

The next day was Saturday, after his slice of toast Harry went back to his cupboard, through up a muggle-repelling charm to keep the Dursley's uninterested about him, and started to think about how to go about getting to Knockturn alley to acquire a set of two-way mirrors. He knew that there were a few sets dotted about Knockturn alley, because he had found them upon raiding every establishment in the alley in his first months as an Auror. But he had no money to buy them, and whilst Harry knew the Gringotts goblins wouldn't want to upset one of their biggest clients by telling people he was around, he didn't want to go exploring Diagon alley as himself just yet.

This left Harry with only one option; to steal them.

Sighing, Harry disillusioned himself and cast a localised silencing charm so his footsteps wouldn't be heard, and if someone got too close it would also mask the sound of his breathing. With his charms in-place Harry reluctantly transformed and, figuring that it would be empty at this time in the morning flashed to the secluded Alleyway in Muggle London which severed as the apparition point for the Leaky Cauldron. Harry sighed again at what he was about to do, and made his way into the pub. Harry justified it to himself that it was for the best; and better he had an undetectable communication method than some other Knockturn alley customer.

* * *

After acquiring the mirrors from one of the run-down shops, Harry flashed to the alley near his school, and walked to the park.

It didn't take Harry long to re-do the charms on the mirrors for him and Ginny; he even added localised privacy and concealment charms to them, so that they couldn't be seen or overheard when using them. With those done, Harry checked the time; it was only just 10am, so Harry set about transfiguring his clothes into something a bit more suitable for running, then set off around the park.

Harry was pushing his body further then it was capable, but an ability he learned during a minor mission for the Auror's prevented him from injuring himself. When you can focus your magic in on yourself, you can heal most mild physical injuries, increase your physical strength, drastically increase your stamina, and as a combination of both of those run an awful lot faster for a long time. Harry remembered when he had discovered this ability during a chase in the Midlands... 

_**1 year after the War ended****  
**_

_It was a cold morning in April that saw the 2 most feared Auror's in Britain on guard duty at a small run-down house in the midlands. Ron turned to Harry and spoke in the hushed whispers they used to talk whilst in the field, even though Harry had covered them with a muffliato charm, "We do have the right place, right?"_

_Harry smiled at Ron for asking the same question four times, now five, "Yes Auror Weasley, it's the right place, just be patient. It is only half 5." Ron scowled at Harry for being called by his title, and reminded of the time, "Yes Sir."_

_Now it was Harry's turn to scowl at Ron, as the red head just sat there smiling at his best mate, and boss. "Ok Ron; the intel puts him as staying here the last 4 nights. If he was laying low he would have moved on by now, so he should be inside." Ron nodded in agreement of the assessment they had made 9 hours ago when they started this stakeout._

_"Right so just to clarify, why can't we go in and arrest him now?" Harry rolled his eyes at Ron's lack of patience, "Because, Gawain doesn't want there to be any accidents, and surprising him while he is sleeping counts as a potential accident." Ron didn't miss the tone in Harry's voice as he spoke about their boss, and thought it wise not to press the matter._

_Almost 3 hours later, there were finally signs of life from the house, as a light came on in one of the upstairs windows. Ron made to move in, but Harry grabbed his arm, and shook his head, "Not yet, he needs to be downstairs." Ron nodded._

_About 20 minutes later the man finally made his way downstairs, Harry and Ron both saw the light in the kitchen window come on. At Harry's nod, they both moved into position with Ron moving round to cover the rear entrance and Harry going in through the front. Once they were in position Harry blasted away the protective wards the smuggler had in place, at the same time Ron through up an anti-apparition shield._

_Harry held his wand out, pointed at the door, and using his hand cast a sonorous charm on himself, and spoke in a magically amplified clear voice, "This is Auror Potter, you are under arrest."_

_Harry and Ron, working together like only the two of them could, made their way into the house, once inside the went room by room, they had just met up at the foot of the stairs, when they heard the sound of breaking glass from upstairs. A quick glance at each other, and Ron ran outside whilst Harry bounded up the stairs, it took Harry less than a second to see the window that the smuggler had broken, he looked up out the window and saw him, about a hundred yards away on a broom._

_Harry's temper rose, and his magical aura pulsed, even Ron, who by now was about halfway to the smuggler felt it. Harry jumped out of the window, he didn't even bother using his wand to help break his fall, he hit the ground running, faster than a human should be able to run. Ron felt Harry's magical aura as he speed straight past Ron at such a speed that Ron almost got knocked on his feet._

_The smuggler, having felt Harry's aura flair, turned his broom away from the house and pushed it as fast as it could go. After a few seconds he looked back to see Harry gaining on him; fast. The smuggler was frozen in shock at the sight of a young wizard gaining on a broom, on foot; and as such didn't see the approaching Oak tree, and ploughed straight into it._

_Harry stopped by the battered body of the smuggler, he checked for a pulse, 'Good he's alive' Harry thought to himself, relived when he felt a pulse. "How the bloody hell did you do that!" Harry turned to see Ron, who having reached the tree collapsed on the ground panting and puffing, desperately trying to get his breath back. Harry shrugged at him, "I don't know. We know that magic can affect the body." Ron nodded, and managed to get out between breaths, "Yeah, but that was insane." Harry nodded his agreement._

_"Maybe, if I can focus my magic I can use it to help my body?" Ron sat there thinking, still struggling for breath and said, "Yeah that sounds plausible. Why don't you give it a try?" Harry nodded at Ron's suggestion..._

After about an hour of running around the park pushing his body as far as he could, Harry un-shrunk the packed lunch he had made in the middle of the night; after downing the bottle of water, Harry refilled it, then put it away. Even though he was still invisible and silent, Harry cast a muggle-repelling charm on a small area of the park, so that he could practice his hand-to-hand fighting skills. Harry along with Ron had insisted on introducing physical combat training to the Auror's; as well as the fitness training. Most first year students could have beaten the 'Old Guard' in a muggle fight.

Harry carried on his training and lost track of time; when his stomach rumbled in a sound that would have made Ron proud, Harry stopped and had the rest of his packed lunch. He then dropped the repelling charm and made sure no-one was about before flashing to The Burrow.

When Harry arrived in The Burrow's orchard he was greeted by a rather angry Ginny, he very briefly thought about flashing away, but decided against it. Transforming back, he held out a hand to silence Ginny whilst he cast the privacy charms; when they were done Ginny screamed at him "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!"

Harry recoiled slightly at her voice, and also at her perfect impersonation of Mrs Weasley, but held his footing, and staring into her eyes calmly replied, "I lost track of time whilst training in the park." Ginny's eyes still flashed dangerously so Harry tired again, "Gin, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you, I honestly lost track of time. I love you."

Upon hearing Harry talk, Ginny started crying, Harry rushed over to her, "Gin, whats wrong?" Ginny looked up at him and managed to get out through her tears, "Oh Harry, I can barely keep it together when you're gone for an hour later then you said, I don't think I will be able to cope when you leave for Hogwarts."

Harry held her close to him, and started stroking her hair, waiting for her to calm down before he spoke. Once she had calmed considerably he spoke to her, "Ginny, it is going to be very hard to cope when we are apart, but we have to cope." Harry pulled the mirrors out of his pocket, "At least now we have a way of staying in touch." Ginny reached for her mirror, and held it tightly to her chest; she spoke in barely a whisper, "How do they work?"

Harry smiled a little at her reaction to the mirror, "All you have to do is hold it in your hand and whisper my name; mine will grow hot and vibrate. When I take mine out to answer your call, I just have to hold it, and they will connect. The same applies for when I call you." Ginny smiled genuinely at the simplicity of them, Harry seeing her smiling continued with his explanation, "I've also added quite a few charms to make the connection private" at Ginny's slightly puzzled look Harry continued, "Privacy charms; when the connection is active the mirror creates a localised muffliato charm around us; it also adds a weak perception charm to us, so that people will ignore us whilst we talk"

Ginny stared at him in amazement that he could do charms that complex, Harry chuckled at her look of shock and awe, "Also they have a concealment charm on them, so that they will appear to be innocuous bits of parchment to everyone but us." Harry smiled at her, somewhat proud of his work, evidently Ginny was pleased with it as well, as she promptly sent them both to the floor and was peppering Harry's cheeks with kisses muttering "I love you" over and over again.

With the two of them wrapped in each other's arms on the floor of the orchard, Harry whispered into Ginny's ear, "This," he gestured to their current position, "is becoming a habit." Ginny giggled and smiled brightly at him, "Yes it is. And I don't mind it at all." Harry leaned across to kiss her hair, "Neither do I Gin."

The couple just lay there catching up, Ginny was very careful not to mention Privet Drive or the Dursley's, so they talked about what had been going on at The Burrow. Neither of them had mentioned tomorrow, but it was weighing heavily on both of their minds.

After what felt like hours, they heard Mr Weasley calling Ginny in for dinner, Ginny sighed "I wish you could stay here." Sitting up Harry looked down at her little face, "So do I." Ginny could hear the longing and want in his voice, and see it in his eyes. She sat up and hugged him, "Soon Harry, soon, it's only..." Harry pulled back to look at her, "It's only another 5 weeks till Hagrid comes to get me from the Hut-on-the-Rock in the sea. I'll have to stay with him at the leaky for a while, but as soon as your family comes to the alley..." Ginny looked up at him waiting, "As soon as your family comes to the alley, I am out of there to come and stay with you." Smiling, Ginny nodded her head.

Harry stood up, helping Ginny up after him, and urging her to try and not use the mirror's tonight, as there would be times at Hogwarts when he would not be able to get away to use them. Ginny understood his request and knew that this separation was just as hard on him as it was on her; he was just better at suppressing it. She acknowledged that she would try to refrain from using them, but doubted her ability to do so; as did Harry. They hugged goodbye, and Ginny dashed inside for dinner, whilst Harry flashed away to the park to carry on his training.

* * *

Harry woke up with a start on Sunday morning, it was barely 6 in the morning, and yet he was wide awake, Harry lay back down and thought about what today would entail.

A while later Harry was snapped out of his musings by Aunt Petunia banging on the cupboard door, and speaking in her shrill voice "Up! Get up! Now!" Sighing, Harry put some socks on, then climbed out of bed and over to the cupboard door. Harry heard the sounds of the bacon cooking, and reluctantly opened the door.

Harry made his way into the kitchen to see the table once again buried beneath all of Dudley's thirty-seven presents; Harry smiled slightly at the memory of Dudley's tantrum, but quickly schooled his expression before Petunia got suspicious. Just like last time Harry was made to take care of the bacon, and just like last time Vernon yelled about Harry's hair when he walked in. It took all of Harry's self control to not burst out laughing as Ginny often made remarks about his hair.

Breakfast was the same affair, with Dudley's tantrum followed by his mother promising to get more presents when they went out. The phone call from Mrs Figg was the same as last time as well, Harry had never thought to ask her if it was an accident that she broke her leg or a plan to get him out of the house. Harry pondered this whilst his aunt and uncle through idea's back and forth about what to do with him.

Half an hour later the Harry and the Dursley's along with Dudley's friend Piers were in the car going to the zoo, and Harry was fidgeting like mad, his mind kept going back to the forest and his lone walk to Voldemort's lair. Every time he tried to push that vision aside it came back; he was just drifting into it again when he felt his trouser pocket grow warm and a slight tickling against his leg. Harry smiled and placed his hand over the mirror in his pocket; he knew that Ginny knew he couldn't respond but that's not why she did it; just like the night before when she had called him, it was only to see his face, to feel his presence, she was returning the favour to him now, when he needed it the most.

When it got round to lunch time Harry was getting very close to being a complete emotional wreck; he had already cast some glamour charms on himself so that the others couldn't see the look in his face and eyes, a look of fear. Harry's body was basically running on auto-pilot, his mind was stuck in the Forbidden forest.

After lunch, during which Harry barely acknowledged Dudley's tantrum over not enough ice cream, they made their way to the reptile house. As they neared the entrance to it Harry's heart rate started to increase. When they entered the cool and dark reptile house, Harry's heart was pounding in his chest, he could hear the blood rushing through his ears. He barely heard Dudley and Piers saying they wanted to see the biggest snake, as the group started walking over to the boa constrictor Harry's world seem to shrink and fade away around him, he could no longer hear the others or even see them; all Harry could see was the snake.

As the group reached the enclosure Harry's stare never wavered from the snake. The snake ignored Vernon's attempts to wake it up; pretty soon the Dursley's and Piers had left, and it was just Harry standing there, next to the creature that was about to show him his destiny.

Harry discreetly put up a muggle-repelling charm as he didn't want to be interrupted and... well he wasn't sure what his reaction would be.

Harry just stood there waiting, staring at the snake, waiting for it to wake up. Time seemed to be passing incredibly slowly for Harry, his heart seem determined to try and leap out of his chest, he was almost deafened by the blood rushing through his ears.

Finally after what felt like an eternity to Harry, the snake opened its eyes; Harry gulped loudly. The snake looked at Harry, and then it glanced at the Dursley's and raised its eyes to the ceiling. Harry continued to stare at the snake, his face frozen in place. The snake continued to stare at Harry for what felt like hours.

The snake opened its mouth and hissed out, _"What has you so afraid? I won't hurt you."_


	6. C 5 : Waiting Game

Disclaimer ~ I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – I am Very sorry that this has taken so long to do, it was by far the hardest chapter to write so far, and I have had Paramore concerts to go to, catching up on the films, and Deathly Hallows before going to see the film (btw its brilliant :D), and suffering from a stupid cold which I have still got. Again I apologise for taking so long, I hope you feel it's been worth the wait, enjoy.

* * *

**Waiting Game**

Harry stood rooted the spot, unable to move. The snake continued to stare at him with what could only be described as a curious look on its face, _"Whats wrong with you?"_ the snake hissed out. Harry wanted to close his eyes and forget everything; but he couldn't. He was running through in his mind what this meant, 'I am a horcrux. I have to die, again.' The image of the Voldemort staring him down across the clearing in the forest was stuck in his mind's eye.

Harry slipped further and further into his memories of the forest and Kings Cross, until screams erupted from all around him, he blinked and shook his head several times to try and keep his mind on the present. He looked around and saw snakes and reptiles of all shapes and sizes on the floor, slithering and crawling over a layer of broken glass. Looking around in more detail Harry saw that all the people including the Dursley's had fled the reptile house; Harry looked back to the snake and hissed out, _"What did I miss?"_

The snake which had been looking around the room looked back up to Harry, _"You did this"_ Harry furrowed his brows, the snake continued, _"After I spoke to you, all of the glass began to shake, after a while it broke, and my fellow captives were freed."_

"Oops."

Harry ignored the screams of the public and the zoo employees trying to clean up and capture some of the animals, as he struggled to keep his mind focused on the present. As Harry was thinking about how to go about getting himself killed by Voldemort, a thought struck him, his head snapped up and he whispered to himself, "If I survived before, I can do it again." Harry used that thought as a warm blanket, and kept himself huddled within it. After several deep breaths, Harry was calm enough to accept his destiny and he moved onto dealing with the present situation.

Harry looked around again, and saw that most of the animals had been rounded up, but there were still shards of glass littered all over the floor, 'Great. How am I going to deal with this?' Harry asked himself. He heard a hissing from behind him, and turned to face the snake, _"Yes?"_ The snake looked at Harry then down to the floor, before settling down in its habitat. Harry smiled slightly to himself and waved his hand, vanishing the glass, _"Enjoy your freedom. And thank you."_ The snake had that puzzled look on its face again, but nodded, and slithered away through the shards of broken glass, heading away from the employees that were still sweeping up the other side of the room.

* * *

Harry was pacing around the orchard at the Burrow waiting for Ginny to come out from dinner. He had been waiting for her since his Uncle had locked him in his cupboard, after accusing him of breaking all the glass at the zoo. Vernon was correct in his assumption, but Harry wasn't going to tell him that.

Mr and Mrs Dursley had been rather upset when Harry caught up with them outside the zoo; Uncle Vernon barely spoke to Harry on the way home, and when he did get home, all he could manage to get out was, "Cupboard now." Harry took that as confirmation that things were going to be the same as last time, he was going to be confined to his cupboard until school ended. 'Well at least it will be easier to get out of the house now' Harry thought to himself grimly as he continued his pacing.

By the time Ginny got away from her parents the sun was getting quite low in the sky, its golden light turning the clouds all different shades of red and orange. Harry was just about nodding off to sleep when a red headed missile jumped on top of him. Thankfully Harry had been awake enough to hear her approach; otherwise his Auror reflexes could have put Ginny into St. Mungo's.

Once Ginny had rolled over onto her side, she propped herself up on her elbow so she could see Harry's face. Harry knew that Ginny was trying to read the truth from his face, and so had kept his eyes shut. "Harry, please I have to know."

Harry reluctantly opened his eyes, he didn't want to have to put her through this, but the least he could do was look her in the eye when he told her. He stared into her chocolaty brown eyes with such intensity that Ginny almost fell backwards from it.

"I..." Harry cleared his throat, "I survived before. I can do it again."

Ginny took almost a full minute to process what he said before jumping back on top of Harry, and trying to hug the life out of him, or so Harry thought. "Gin can't breathe." Ginny eased her grip slightly, but didn't move from atop Harry, he could hear her muffled sobs into his shirt. Harry didn't know what to say to her, so he just lay there stroking her hair and holding her close, whilst she sobbed.

The sun was getting to the horizon and Ginny still hadn't stopped sobbing, Harry knew that Mrs Weasley would be out soon to call her in for bed; or she'd send Ron out to do it. Harry carefully managed to reach underneath his shirt and grab the golden chain from around his neck, he pulled it out and draped it around Ginny's exposed neck and turned it twice. The Orchard dissolved around them, as they flew backwards through a blur of colour, then it stopped and the Orchard came back into focus.

Ginny's sobs had slowed down when she felt them flying through the swirl of colour. As Harry removed the golden chain from around her neck, she finally managed to look up at him; "Time-turner" Harry said in answer her unspoken question, "I figured that it could be useful." Ginny nodded her head, and went back to lying across Harry's shoulder.

By now Ginny had cried herself out, Harry knew that he would be arriving soon, so he gently pushed Ginny off him and stood up, offering her a hand, they moved away deeper into the orchard as far away from the house as they could get. "Here should be alright." Harry said once they could barely make out the house through the dense trees. They sat down on the orchard floor, with Ginny huddled up to Harry.

"Ginny" Harry paused and took a breath, "Gin, I'll be ok. My mother's blood saved me once, and it will do so again." Ginny didn't look up but nodded more to herself than Harry. "I'm sorry. Every time you come over here I always end up crying in your arms." Harry smiled at her, "Yeah, but it's not all bad. I do get to hold you."

After a few deep breaths Ginny unattached herself from Harry "Ok then. Lets never mention what... what needs to be done, until the time... is here." Harry nodded his agreement, and he laid them both down in the grass. They lay there in silence for several minutes before Ginny spoke up, "How long did you send us back?" Harry made the time appear above them, "About 2 hours, we'll need to head back up in about an hour and a half. Any sooner and we risk bumping into ourselves."

Ginny looked over at Harry, who, sensing her gaze, looked across to her and raised his eyebrows, "What?" Ginny smiled then climbed on top of Harry, she spoke in a quite whisper, "What are we going to do for the next hour then?" She smiled even wider when she heard Harry gulp, "Gin, we've been over this, nothing can happen..." Before Harry could continue Ginny interrupted him "I know but that doesn't mean I can't have fun, Ginny leaned down until her face was an inch from Harry's.

At this distance Harry could see into her deep into her eyes at the emotion she was burying, "Gin, I can't even begin to imagine what you felt when you saw Hagrid carrying me out of the forest." Ginny pulled back a little, fresh tears beginning to form at the recollection of that memory, "But I swear to you now, you will never have to feel that again. I love you Ginny Potter. It still pains me to this day that I had to deceive all of you. None of that will be necessary this time. I'll go down, and bounce right back up, you have my word."

Ginny could see in Harry's eyes that he meant all of what he was saying. "I still don't want you to have to do it." Harry smiled a half-smile, "I'm not exactly fond of the idea myself." Ginny let out a short laugh, then sighed, "Ok. I think this occasion merits a slight violation of our agreement." Ginny said as she leaned back down and kissed him.

* * *

As the week drew to a close Harry was into a routine, he would get up before the Dursley's and make himself a breakfast by magic so his aunt and uncle wouldn't find out. After that he would make the breakfast for his relatives, then be taken off to school with Dudley.

At School Dudley and his gang had learned to keep away from Harry after a series of odd occurrences kept happening to them. Harry was very careful to make sure none of them were permanently injured during these _accidents_.

Harry had to work very hard during his lessons to keep his marks the same and not jump to the top of the class, which would have earned the wrath of his aunt and uncle, as he would have been better than their ickle Diddykins. At lunch times Harry went to a nice secluded spot behind some trees where he had placed a permanent muggle repelling charm, he used the time-turner, and with the extra time, he went to the park to carry on with his physical and magical training.

The physical training was similar to what he did with the Auror's; running to increase speed and stamina, fight training to increase agility and reflexes, and muggle weight training to increase strength. Harry had to be very careful with the weight training as his 10 year old body was a lot weaker then it should be, but after some trial and error, and a few strained muscles, he found the right balance.

Harry couldn't really do much magical training without other people or even targets to train against, so he resorted to working on what Hermione had called thought-magic. Harry could cast almost any spell without his wand, but they all required the movement of his hand, thought-magic was the ability to use spells just by thinking them, without having to wave your wand, or hand.

Harry had only recently discovered this talent, and as such could only do a basic lumos charm with it. By the end of his first week of school and training, Harry could levitate half a dozen stones at once with individual control over each one. It took a lot out of him, but he knew that constantly using it would make it stronger.

Harry would get back to school by the end of lunch; and having got home he would make dinner for the Dursley's and then have minute amount of food they permitted him to eat, he would sneak back out later and make something more substantial. Once he was sent to his cupboard, he would wait for Ginny to call after she had finished her dinner, and gotten away from her parents and Ron.

Their chats would be about nothing of importance, just an overview of the day. It was more the fact of seeing each other and hearing the other's voice, then talking, that was the reason for the daily chats.

The weeks carried on with this routine until the summer holidays arrived, Harry could no longer go over to the Burrow and spend a couple of hours a week with Ginny, because of all her brothers being there. There chats were ending up being later and later, so much so that Harry had taken to having them in the kitchen whilst he made himself food after the Dursley's had gone to bed.

Harry was spending all of his time in the park, training. By now he was fitter and stronger then he had been in fourth year, and his progress with thought-magic was coming along very well.

When Petunia took Dudley up to London to get his new uniform, Harry had to spend the day with Mrs Figg; it took a lot of self restraint on Harry's part to act like he should for a 10 year old boy. The next day Harry got back from his early morning run to the horrible smell of Aunt Petunia dying his new school uniform grey, little did she know he would never wear it.

His Uncle and cousin came in, both of them scrunching up their noses at the smell coming from the pot in the kitchen. Dudley was busy banging his Smeltings stick on the table, when they all heard the letter box open, Harry didn't even wait for Uncle Vernon to tell Dudley to get the post, he just got up and went to the Hallway.

There it was, what he had been waiting just over a month for, underneath the postcard from Marge and the bill from the bank. His Hogwarts letter.

_Mr H. Potter  
The Cupboard under the Stairs  
4 Privet Drive  
Little Whinging  
Surrey_

* * *

A/N – I know some of you may think me evil for ending it there, and well your probably right. I have been turned into the family house-elf so I don't know how much writing time I will get over the next few weeks, but I do promise to try and not make it as long again between chapters.


	7. C 6 : The Letters and the Gamekeeper

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Most of this chapter is modified from the beginning of Philosophers Stone.

* * *

**The Letters and the Gamekeeper**

Harry stared down at the letter; he and Ginny had already decided to let things play-out as before, but he couldn't help thinking about just taking the letter and leaving for Diagon alley now; part of him, a very big part, wanted to.

Harry stood there for a good couple of minutes before finally sighing, and heading back into the kitchen. "Here we go again." Harry muttered to himself darkly, but with a slightly mischievous look in his eyes.

Harry made his way back into the kitchen, "Uncle Vernon, whats Hogwarts and why are they sending me a letter?"

Harry had great satisfaction from watching his uncle's face go from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the greyish white of old porridge.

That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon visited Harry in his cupboard. Harry didn't want to get into a big fight as he knew he was being moved to Dudley's second bedroom, so kept his mouth shut.

Five days later it was Sunday morning and the 4 residents of number four Privet drive were sitting around the table in silence. Uncle Vernon was looking very ill and tired but strangely, was in a good mood, "No post on Sundays," he told them all happily as he spread marmalade onto the newspaper, "no blasted letters today-"

Before Vernon could finish his sentence something came zooming straight out of the chimney and caught him hard on the back of the head, before he had time to turn around hundreds of letters had come flying straight out of the fireplace like bullets. Harry, deciding to play along, jumped up into the air to try and grab one, he was soon tackled by Uncle Vernon, who told them all to go and pack a bag and be back in 5 minutes, the rather deranged look on his uncle's face ensured that no one questioned the order.

That night they slept in a gloomy hotel on the outskirts of a city, with damp, musty sheets. At what passed for breakfast the hotel owner came up, "'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk." She showed them one of Harry's letters. Vernon quickly stood up and followed her.

Many hours later Vernon parked the car at the coast and locked Harry and the others in the car. After a while Vernon came back with a long thin package and a smile on his face, "Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on!" Harry had difficulty suppressing a grin at Vernon's attempts to outrun Hagrid.

After what seemed like hours of being frozen and soaked by the icy sea spray and rain, they made it to the battered hut. Ignoring the stench of seaweed, Harry made his _bed_ on the floor next to the sofa where Dudley would end up sleeping.

They had Vernon's rations of a bag of crisps and a banana each, and then settled in for the night. Harry lay on the floor, ignoring the thunder from outside and Dudley's snores, watching the lighted dial of Dudley's watch. Watching his freedom edge closer and closer; Harry started counting down the seconds in his head, 'five... four... three... two... one...'

BOOM.

Harry smiled to himself as the whole structure shook with the force of Hagrid's knocking.

BOOM.

Hagrid knocked again, Dudley bolted upright from the sofa, and ran to the other side of the room.

BOOM.

Another knock, Petunia and Vernon were on the stairs a few from the bottom, Vernon was holding his newly bought shotgun in trembling hands, and he spoke in a shakey voice "Who's there?"

There was a small pause –

SMASH!

Hagrid hit the door so hard that it came flying off its hinges and landed flat on the ground with a deafening crash.

Hagrid stood framed by the doorway, with the lightening and rain behind him, the Dursley's all screamed at the sight, whilst Harry kept trying to control his laughter.

"Sorry 'bout that." Hagrid said, as he bent down and lifted the door back into place with one hand.

Uncle Vernon finally managed to find his voice, "I demand that you leave at once sir." Hagrid calmly walked over to him, snatched the gun out of his hands tied it into a knot as if it was made of rubber then gave it back to him, "Dry up Dursley, yeh great prune."

He strode over to the sofa where Harry was now standing, "An' here's Harry!" Harry smiled up at his old friend. "Got summat for you, 'fraid I might have sat on it at some point, but I imagine it will taste fine just the same." Hagrid fished out a cardboard box from his great overcoat, and passed it to Harry.

Harry took the box, inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with _Happy Birthday Harry_ written on it in green icing. Harry looked up at Hagrid's face and saw that he was beaming at him, "Thank you." Hagrid smiled down at Harry, "It's not every day your young man turns eleven now is it?" Hagrid sat down on the sofa and set a fire going in the fireplace.

As Harry put the cake down on the side of the sofa next to Hagrid an idea began to form in his head about how he was going to do this, keeping his expression controlled Harry asked, "Excuse me, but who are you?"

"Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts."

"Oh, the school for witchcraft and wizardry. Where my letter was from?" A brief silence followed, then it took a great deal of self control for Harry to not burst out laughing at the strangled noises that were coming from his uncle, and the sight of his aunt's face. Hagrid initially looked a little taken aback, but soon nodded, "Yeh, that's the one."

"So it's real, I really am a wizard!" Harry asked, trying to get a reaction from his uncle. Hagrid opened his mouth to reply, but uncle Vernon spoke first, "He'll not be going, I tell you. We swore when we took him in we put a stop to all this rubbish." Harry smiled inside, his uncle add just done exactly what Harry wanted him to.

Harry reached inside himself for his magical aura, and started to push it outwards very slowly. After the war, when his magical core, to use the muggle expression Hermione found, went into overdrive, Harry had to keep the extent of it suppressed so as to not alert every witch and wizard in the area that he was nearby; even muggle's, whilst less sensitive to magical aura's could feel one the size of Harry's; but now, only when he wanted them to.

Harry turned round to face his uncle, and spoke in the loud clear voice that was laced with 16 years worth of anger and hatred, a voice that used to put fear into the heart of any criminal in the British Isles, "You knew."

Vernon Dudley didn't know what it was he could feel from his nephew, but he guessed it was some freaky rubbish and held his ground, "Yes we knew. And you will not be going." Harry pulsed his aura.

Hagrid, who had been watching the exchange and heard the venom in the two words Harry spoke, took a step back when he felt Harry's aura flair. He moved his right hand into a firm grasp on his flowery pink umbrella, just in case.

Vernon still held his ground after he felt a pulse from Harry, but after having seen the giant man take a big step back away from Harry, and then move a hand onto the umbrella he had used to light the fire, Vernon started to question his actions, "Now... when I say you're not going, what I mean to say is..." before Vernon could finish his wife began to interrupt him, "Don't be ridiculous Vernon of course he's not going, just like his mother a-"

Petunia was silenced when the entire hut began to shake violently, and not from the wind. Vernon had rejoined his wife and son at the foot of the stairs, and was doing such a good impression of a goldfish that Harry had trouble concentrating on his rouse.

Hagrid knew that Harry was having an outburst of accidental magic, and knew that if the hut and possibly even his relatives were going to survive, Harry needed to calm down, fast. "Harry, calm down. I know your uncle has all the kindness of a boggart, but you need to calm down, or you'll bring the 'hole place down on top of us!"

Harry was enjoying his demonstration to the Dursley's, and didn't want to stop, but Hagrid was right, on both counts, if he kept pushing his aura out, he would collapse the hut; and his uncle was indeed less friendly then a boggart. Very reluctantly, and very slowly, Harry began to re-suppress his aura.

Once it was back, Harry spoke in the same voice as before, "I am going to Hogwarts, to study MAGIC, under Albus Dumbledore." Harry thoroughly enjoyed the Dursley's reaction to the word magic, but still managed to school his features.

Hagrid smiled when Harry said that, "Yep finest Headmaster Hogwarts has ever had." Hagrid was about to motion to Harry to follow him outside, when Vernon managed to find his voice again.

"He can't go, he can't afford anything, and I will not pay to have some crackpot old fool teach him magic tricks." Vernon's voice had started out weak and shaky but had regained some of its strength by the time he reached the end of his sentence. That strength vanished when Hagrid raised his pink umbrella and pointed it directly at Vernon's chest, "Never insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me."

Hagrid swiped his umbrella through the air, at the same time Harry subtly waved his hand at Vernon; there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, then an odd sort of squelching sound. Petunia, who was standing behind her husband, shrieked when she felt Vernon's new curly pigs tail tickle her leg.

Vernon looked round and saw the pig's tail sticking out from a hole in his trousers, he roared, and charged at the two wizards. Harry reacted instinctively and flicked his hand, sending Vernon flying into the far wall of the hut; he slid to the floor, unconscious.

Nobody was moving in the hut; Harry thought that he was probably the only one who was currently breathing. Harry glanced round and saw that Dudley and Petunia were staring at Vernon's still form, and Hagrid was staring at him. He spoke to Hagrid, "Can we leave now? Please."

Hagrid snapped out of his trance, and nodded, "Yeh, course we can." Hagrid moved towards the door and pulled it down; he stepped outside into the wind and rain. Harry made his way slowly over to the doorway; he looked back at the Dursley's.

Petunia had moved to her husband's side, and Dudley was sat there, just about to take a bite from Harry's birthday cake. Harry summoned the cake, and put it under his arm; he locked eyes with Dudley, who quickly turned away, then Petunia, "Goodbye." Harry took a step outside, then sighed and waved his hand in Vernon's direction, healing his concussion; but leaving him with a permanent pig's tail.

* * *

Harry was waiting on the platform with Hagrid for the next train to London; they had spent the boat trip back to shore in silence, with only the sound of the wind, or Hagrid turning the page of the _Daily Prophet_ to break it.

Harry could tell that Hagrid wanted to talk about what happened but, was being careful not to say anything around the muggles.

They boarded the train in silence, rather than get out his knitting, Hagrid sat down, taking up two seats and looked across at Harry, "That was some show of power back there Harry."

Harry sensed that this wasn't going to be an easy conversation so decided to deflect, "I don't want to talk about what happened. I'm never going back to the Dursley's so it doesn't matter."

"Now, now, Harry, there is no need to be jumping to conclusions like that, they are your relatives," Hagrid raised one of his dustbin lid sized hands to stop Harry's interruption, "And that kind of control and power... Why I have never seen even Dumbledore do anything like that without his wand."

Harry could see this was getting tricky so he decided to play it down, "I didn't think about what I was doing, I just saw _him_ coming at me, and I just raised my hand to protect myself. It was instinct." Harry was hoping and begging inside that Hagrid would just accept that, and leave it be.

"I know yeh didn't mean to do it Harry, but that is still a lot o' power." Hagrid could see the pleading in Harry's eyes to let the subject drop. "Alright then, you said you read your letter, do you have it on you?"

Harry shook his head, "No, I left it in the house when we packed to leave." Hagrid nodded slowly, and fished out the copy he had planned to give to Harry on the island, "Here, take this one. Read the second piece." Harry took the letter addressed in the standard emerald green ink to _Mr H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea_.

He opened it, and took the second bit of parchment out to read; his book list:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

Uniform  
_First-year students will require:  
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)  
Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags_

Set Books  
_All students should have a copy of each of the following:_  
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) _by Miranda Goshawk_  
A History of Magic _by Bathilda Bagshot_  
Magical Theory_ by Adalbert Waffling_  
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch_  
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _by Phyllida Spore_  
Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger_  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by Newt Scamander_  
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble_

Other equipment  
_1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales_

_Students may bring, if they desire, an owl, a cat or a toad _

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

The penultimate line of the parchment put Harry in the middle of a flashback to the battle over Little Whinging; he was getting deeper into the recollection when one of the passengers further down the carriage dropped their briefcase with a loud thud. Harry shook his head to clear his mind of the last memory he had of his beloved owl. "Hedwig" Harry breathed out.

"What was that Harry?" Harry froze, and looked up to see Hagrid looking at him strangely, "Not... I was just thinking where can we get all this?"

Hagrid smiled down at him, "We can get it all in London," He then stage whispered, "If you know where to go" and winked at Harry. Harry smiled and nodded his head.

He was off at last, to Diagon Alley.

* * *

A/N – In case you haven't guessed the next chapter will be Diagon alley, it will possible end up being a Part 1, I'm not sure yet. I am working this weekend, and away the weekend after that, and I am still being treated like a house-elf, but without the job satisfaction, (:P great line from Ron), so it might be a while till its up.


	8. C 7 : Diagon Alley Revisited

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Parts of this chapter are modified from the Philosopher's stone chapter. Hope you like.

* * *

**Diagon Alley Revisited**

As Hagrid and Harry approached the Leaky Cauldron Harry started to feel nervous about what he was going to face inside; he was about to become the boy who lived, all over again.

As they entered the pub Harry held his breath, Tom the barman spotted the very hard to miss half-giant "Ah Hagrid, usual I presume?" said Tom as he moved to pour Hagrid a drink from the biggest tankard he had.

"No thanks Tom, I'm on official Hogwarts business today. Just helping young Harry here buy his school supplies." as Hagrid spoke he gestured to Harry, who was trying desperately to hide in the shadows, and not face his admirers, at least at this point in time, it was mostly older wizards, rather than the legions of young screaming witch's Harry was used to.

Tom gasped "Bless my soul; it's Harry Potter."

* * *

Harry and Hagrid made their way through the giant silver doors that marked the entrance to the wizard bank, Gringotts. Harry was very wary of the goblins as they made their way to a counter; they had never fully forgiven Ron, Hermione and himself for breaking in. It had taken extensive negotiations, involving both Kingsley and Bill, before the goblins would consent to allow them access to their vaults once more, as well as provide Harry access to his family vault and his inheritance; the vault of the Peverell's.

Harry's thoughts of the negotiations were interrupted when Hagrid spoke to the goblin teller they had approached, "Mr Harry Potter wishes to make a withdrawal." The goblin leaned over the counter and peered down his long nose at Harry, who stared back at the goblin, his gaze not wavering.

After a few seconds of this staring match, the goblin spoke, "You have a letter here Mr Potter." Harry didn't have to fake the look of surprised shock on his face, "A...a letter?" the goblin handed it over the counter to Harry, being careful to keep the name concealed from Hagrid, this did not go unnoticed by Harry, who raised an eyebrow at the goblin, who merely glanced at Hagrid quickly then continued, "All the information you require is in there Mr Potter, now do you have your key?"

After Hagrid had emptied most of his pockets out onto the counter, much to the displeasure of the goblin he handed over the key, then fished a letter out of his front pocket, "Professor Dumbledore gave me this," Hagrid leaned forward and spoke in a whisper, "It's about, you know what, in vault, you know which." The goblin accepted, and read the letter in silence, then nodded, "Very well. Griphook!"

Whilst Hagrid had been discussing the letter with the goblin, Harry had glanced at the name on his letter:

_Mr Harry J. Potter & Mrs Ginevra M. Potter_

* * *

Hagrid was still looking rather green when the two of them made their way out of Gringotts, so he went off to the Leaky for a drink, leaving Harry to make a start on his school supplies. Once Hagrid was out of sight, Harry quickly moved out of the main street into a small alcove, and fished the letter out of his pocket. After casting the standard Auror scanning charms, he determined that the letter was safe and tried to open it; but the envelope remained sealed.

Harry tried to open it several times, he even tried using a cutting charm, but it would not open. "Hmm," Harry stared at the letter for a few seconds, thinking about what to do about it. Harry thought about it for several minutes, trying to come up with answers to the many questions the envelope had raised; how were he and Ginny married in this timeline? How had the goblins found out? And what was this letter about?

Harry came to the conclusion that the letter would only open in the presence of both of the addressee's, so sighing he put it away and pushed all thoughts of it to the back of his mind. He then made a bee-line for _Flourish & Blotts_, he was not in the mood to deal with Draco and his pompous attitude problems right now, so he decided he would get his robes later.

In the book store, Harry navigated his way around the floor to ceiling shelves, picking up all of the books he would need for the next several years at Hogwarts; he also picked up the Auror required reading list, minus the ones that he was too young to get. He picked up all the extra books so he had a simple explanation for his advanced magical knowledge, but even with the extra books, Harry knew he was going to have to keep his magic toned down to not arouse suspicion.

Harry also grabbed a couple of books on _Spell Modification & Creation_; with all the extra time he was going to have at Hogwarts, having done it all before, he wanted to work on some spell ideas he had had whilst working, not only for himself and the Aurors, but for others as well. He had already created his shield, and the stun bomb spell... 

_**2 years after the War ended**_

_Ron and Harry made their way into the latter's office, and collapsed onto the chairs, Ron spoke first "I thought we had seen the last of those riots with the Death Eater trials." Harry nodded, "Me too. I guess not many people like being stabbed in the back by people they used to work with, and even consider friends." Ron shrugged in response._

_A few hours previously the two of them had been on guard duty for the second day of the trials of ministry employees that supported Voldemort during the war. The _Golden Trio_ as the papers called the two of them and Hermione, were only required to testify in a couple of these cases, the one they were looking forward to, was the toad's, but that wasn't for several months._

_Before the trial had even started, quite a few people had gathered by the entrance to the courtroom, as the trial continued, this number steadily grew, until it was well over 200 people lining the hall._

_Harry's instincts were telling him, that this wasn't going to end well, so he sent a patronus message for reinforcements, before the other Auror's arrived, Albert Runcorn appeared in the doorway flanked by two of the senior Auror's._

_Upon laying eyes on him the crowd started to become restless, shouting insults at Runcorn as the Auror's forced they way through the crowd, Harry called out over the noise "MAKE A PATH!" Harry's order was met with more yelling and screaming, before the older Auror's could do anything, one of them was struck with a curse from the crowd, before Ron and Harry could spring into action, all hell broke loose._

_Curses were flying from all directions at Runcorn and his Auror escort, Harry and Ron didn't even need to look at each other before they jumped in front of the prisoner, with shields rasied, and stunning anything that moved._

_By the time the dust settled, forty minutes later, Runcorn was down as were his two guards, along with most of the rioters, the few that hadn't been stunned by Harry, Ron, or the reinforcements had surrendered._

_Harry quickly took charge of the situation, and got the injured to St. Mungo's before throwing all the rioters into a cell._

_The next morning some of the rioters had been released after checks on their wands showed only defensive spells, the remaining, were given hefty fines, and the ones that through the nasty curses that struck down the Aurors and Runcorn, were given 3 month sentences in Azkaban._

_The same thing happened again this afternoon, this time there was no-one injured, but it still took a good twenty minutes for the rioters to be brought under control._

_The two Auror's sat at the desk in Harry's office, thinking about what they could do differently. It was several minutes later, when Harry called Kreacher to get them some food and drinks. Once they were eating, Ron spoke up with a mouthful of food so large that Hermione would have probably hexed him, "We need a better way of dealing with the rioters." Ron said, as he dove into another serving._

_Harry nodded, "It's not so much a better way, as a _faster_ way. Even with half the force there it still took twenty minutes!" Harry sighed in frustration, "What we need is a way to incapacitate a group of them at once... Kreacher!" Harry re-called the old house-elf, he appeared with a pop in front of Ron, wearing his new tea-towel with the Potter coat of arms on it, "Mas... Harry called?" Harry and Ron exchanged a glance, "Kreacher, can you fetch me the Christmas present I got from Kingsley last year, please?" The elf looked puzzled but nodded and popped away._

_Harry leant against his desk, and ignored the questioning stare Ron was giving him. It only took Kreacher a couple of minutes to find the item Harry requested, "Will there be anything else, Ma... Harry?" Harry suppressed a grin at Kreacher's slip-up, "No that's all. Actually could you tell Ginny I'm going to be late, please?" Kreacher bowed and popped away._

_Ron spoke up, "You got to give him credit for trying. " Harry looked over at Ron, "I'm convinced he does it on purpose." Ron looked at Harry in disbelief, and then slowly accepted that Harry might be right, nodding Ron spoke, "Maybe. Anyway, whats with the book? Oh and you know Ginny will kill you for working late."_

_Harry looked at Ron is disbelief "Ginny has never once complained about me working late, she knows I like it too much to not work late on occasion." Harry raised his hand to silence Ron's retort before continuing, "And unlike you, I have never been forced to sleep on the sofa by my wife, whereas your sofa has a permanent butt impression on it."_

_Harry looked on smugly as Ron did a very good goldfish impression and turned an interesting combination of red and green, before leaping out of his seat and running for the stairs. Harry was still laughing when Ron returned about fifteen minutes later, back to his usual colour, "So the book?" Harry didn't move and instead gave Ron a questioning stare, until Ron finally answered, "She's fine with me working late," at Harry's raised eyebrow he continued, "She's working on Dobby's Law anyway, she wouldn't have even noticed if I wasn't home!"_

_Harry shrugged as if to say 'ok whatever', "Yes the book, like I said it was a Christmas present from King, it's all about the muggle military." At the mention of that Ron's eyes lit up, Harry rolled his eyes, it had taken a long time to come through, but Ron had inherited his father's passion for muggles, especially in regard to their law enforcement and military._

_Harry put the book down on his desk, and began to flick through it until he came across the page he wanted, "There was something the muggle's used when they wanted to incapacitate a group of people, they call it a Flash-bang... Ah here we go." Harry opened the book out at the appropriate page, and showed it to Ron._

A flash-bang or stun grenade, is a non-lethal weapon. The first devices like this were created in the 1960s at the order of the British Special Air Service as an incapacitant. These grenades are used to temporally neutralize the combat effectiveness of enemies by usually disorienting their senses. The flash of light momentarily activates all light sensitive cells in the eye, making vision impossible for approximately five seconds until the eye restores itself to its normal, unstimulated state. The incredibly loud blast produced by the grenade adds to its incapacitating properties by disturbing the fluid in the ear.

_"Well those effects would be simple enough to create with a noise-maker charm and a lumos solem; the problem would be doing them together..." Ron trailed off in mid-sentence, "George!" Ron shouted; Harry flinched and spun towards the door wand raised and shield already in place._

_"I wish you wouldn't make me jump like that." Harry complained to Ron, who looked a little sheepish at Harry's reaction._

_"Sorry?" Harry scowled at Ron, "The last time you made me jump your brother was in St. Mungo's for a week!" Ron winced at the memory of Bill going backwards through the Burrow's kitchen window several months ago._

_Ron nodded, "I'm sorry, but I did have a good reason," At Harry's glare Ron quickly carried on, "George and Fred were working on some kind of device during the war, George only told me about it briefly when I worked there, but from what he said, it was something to be thrown into a crowd of death eaters or snatchers to slow them down and let you escape." Ron finished without taking a breath._

_Harry looked thoughtful for a few seconds, "I'm guessing with what happened, and the end of the war, the work on it was stopped?" Ron nodded, "George should still be at the shop, let's pay him a visit."_

* * *

_"George it's me and Harry!" Ron shouted as they knocked on the door to number 93 Diagon Alley._

_Several seconds later, a slightly out of breath George appeared before them, "Hey, what brings the country's most feared Auror's to my doorstep?"_

_Harry shot a quick glance at Ron and pushed a thought into his head with legilimency, _"leave this to me"._ Ron reached up and rubbed his cheek confirming to Harry that he received the message, all this happened too fast for George to notice._

_Harry spoke in his Auror voice, "George Fabian Weasley, we are arresting you on suspicion of trafficking in illegal substances, you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, some..." Before Harry could continue, Ron collapsed on the floor in hysterics. George's face had been completely drained of all colour, and he was shaking in fear. Harry kicked Ron in the shins "Ron, you had to go and ruin it didn't you!"_

_Harry looked up from his best mate's still laughing form and turned to face George, he smiled, "Hi George how's business?"_

_It took a strong cup of tea with a splash or three of firewhiskey in it, before George was calm enough for them to talk, "You really had me there Potter. While I do appreciate the drink, you don't think you could get me some clean underwear as well do you?" Harry and Ron both groaned at George._

_Laughing George carried on, "So, I take it you two didn't just come here to scare me half to death?" Harry and Ron both nodded, "So, What can I do for you?"_

_Ron gestured for Harry to talk, "I assume by now you have heard about the riots from the trials," George nodded, "Well Ron told me that during the war you an.. were working on some kind of device to stop or slow down a group of death eaters."_

_George was nodding, "Yeah we came up with the idea from some muggle war books," At that, Ron and Harry shared a knowing look, "It was a stun grenade," Harry sat up straighter, and Ron followed suit. "Hang on I think I still have one of the prototypes..." George went into his bedroom and came back a few minutes later carrying a small black sphere with grooves for fingers._

_He placed the sphere down on the table, Harry took it carefully, knowing that even though this was for a good cause, he wouldn't put it past George to trick them. He sensed the stunner contained within, he gripped it in his hand, "Does it work?"_

_The older Weasley shook his head, "Nah, well sort of." Harry raised his eyebrow, "It works in that, you throw it, and it blows up, and sends out a stun wave, the problem is tha-"_

_Harry interrupted him "The power." George looked surprised for a second then nodded, "Yeah, the stun wave either doesn't go far enough to be of any use, or is too weak to affect anything bigger than a small owl."_

_Harry nodded, deep in thought, Ron turned to George and the two of them started talking about Ginny's upcoming game against the Tornado's. It was ten whole minutes later before Harry came back round, by which time the conversation had turned to the family gathering at the weekend._

_"Ah, the great one has returned!" Harry scowled at Ron for using one of his many new titles, courtesy of the media. Harry ignored him and spoke, "The problem is that there is only so much magical power a device this size can contain, and more importantly there is only so much power it can use. I think the way forward would be to create a spell rather than a device; that would eliminate the power problem."_

_Ron smiled, and George just stared at Harry in shock, he managed to recover enough to say, "I thought Hermione was the smart one!" At that both Harry and Ron fell about laughing._

_Harry managed to collect himself enough to speak, "Yes Hermione is the smart one, but with my occlumency I have the ability to go into my mind and well, time passes a lot more slowly at the speed of thought, that combined with my enhanced memory, and..."_

_"And it means you can spend the equivalent of several days if not weeks, studying on a problem in a library, going without food and rest." George summarised_

_Harry nodded, "Pretty much."_

_George just shook his head at his brother in-law, "Would you like me to see if I can dig out the research on that thing for you?" George sighed at the two eagerly nodding Auror's and went back to his bedroom to find his notes on the stun grenade._

* * *

_A week later Harry and Ron were in the Auror training area, in the bowels of the DMLE, fine tuning the spell._

_"Maybe were using it wrong?" said Ron who was picking up the training dummies Harry had just knocked down. "I mean if it gets stopped by the first couple of people, then it's not going to be much good for crowd control."_

_Harry nodded, they had spent the better part of four hours practising the new spell, trying out different tactics about how to use it, "Maybe we need a different approach?" Ron looked at him with a questioning glance, "Think about it, going in from the front, in a crowd, it's never going to penetrate very far, what we need to do... That's it!"_

_"What?" Ron asked him, as he just set up the final dummy in their mock crowd. "Oh. Death from above?" Harry nodded, "That could work, but you'd need to get the placement just right, otherwise, it wouldn't take out the ones at the front, which let's face it, is the ones you want to get down first."_

_Harry nodded, "Yeah, all set?" At Ron's nod, Harry drew back, and cast the spell, _"Pulsus Stupefious!"

_The glowing red ball of light left the end of Harry's wand and arced gracefully over the crowd, it was several rows back when it started to dip down, just before it was about to start touching the dummies heads ten rows back, it exploded, sending out a pulse of raw stun energy, that reached all the way back to the front of the crowd, knocking almost two hundred dummies to the ground._

_Harry and Ron just stood there for several seconds before Ron spoke up, "Bloody hell." Harry started laughing at his friends now almost trademark catchphrase, Ron looked across at Harry's laughing form, then groaned as he realised what he had said. "Alright _Sir_, that's enough."_

_Harry glared at Ron, but he just stayed put with a smug smile on his face. "Ok then. I think that works. You want to try?"_

_Ron nodded, and moved back to Harry's position, Harry lazily flicked his wand at the dummies and they all sprang back to attention. Ron scowled at Harry, "Why couldn't you do that the last dozen times? Instead of leaving me to do it!"_

_Harry just smiled, "Now where would be the fun in that." Harry gestured to the dummies, "Your turn."_

_It took Ron the rest of the day to get the spell down, even then he only managed to get his to go four rows back, but to Harry's surprise Ron wasn't unhappy about that, "Come on mate, four rows is still between twenty to thirty of them, it's good enough to be of use." Harry spoke as he righted the dummies once again._

_"I know. I'm not that worried. I've learned to not try and compete with you anymore." Harry turned round and stared at his best mate in shock, "Come again?" Ron just laughed, "I know I'm never going to match you magically, hell no-one is!" Before Harry could interrupt, Ron raised his hand, "You may not like it mate, but you are the most powerful wizard on the planet, possibly ever."_

_Harry sighed, he really didn't like all the extra attention he was getting because some in the media were beginning to call him 'the new Dumbledore'. "Fine, and your right I don't like it, at all." Harry sighed again, "You think you've got this down?" Ron nodded "Alright then, let's go teach it to the others, that last riot put four civilians and one of us into St. Mungo's."_

_The following afternoon Harry and Ron were once again on guard duty this time with half the Auror force, all of them armed with the new spell, though Harry and Ron were the only ones to have mastered it._

_As before, when the defendant was brought out, the crowd started getting restless, Harry using his hand for a sonorous charm spoke above the noise, "Please settle down and let them pass. Or you will all find yourselves in a cell for the night." The noise level dropped slightly put nowhere near enough for the Auror's to relax, all of them were on edge, waiting for the first spell to be thrown._

_The escorts were almost half-way down the hall, when the first spell was thrown, having sensed the attack coming, Harry's stun orb was already leaving the end of his wand. As soon as the stun orb left his wand, the noise level dropped as everyone turned to stare at it, it arced over the crowd towards the caster of the first spell, when it pulsed; knocking down over sixty of the rioters; before anyone could respond Harry spoke again, "You now see what we are capable of. All of you settle down, NOW!"_

_That day was the last day anyone ever questioned an order from Harry Potter._

The store clerk telling Harry his total brought him out of his recollection, as Harry was paying for the books, he spotted Hagrid standing outside waving at him, he waved back then picked up his books from the counter, struggling to balance them, 'I need to shrink these before I drop them all.' "Yer alright there Harry? Maybe we had best get you a trunk next so you don't drop them books everywhere."

Hagrid had relieved Harry of most of his books but he was still carrying half a dozen when they entered the magical supplies store, a small old wizard came up to greet them, he glanced once at Harry's forehead, "Mr Potter, an honour to meet you sir, how may I be of service today?" Harry managed to refrain from rolling his eyes, just, and proceeded to buy a 5 compartment trunk, similar to the one Moody had at Hogwarts. Harry didn't bother trying to convince Hagrid to let him get a solid gold cauldron and went straight for the pewter; after finishing up in the supplies store, they moved onto the Apothecary.

In the Apothecary, Harry got a much more advanced potion kit then he strictly needed for school, but Hagrid either didn't notice, or didn't care, Harry assumed it was the former. When the pair of them exited the foul smelling store Harry asked Hagrid for the time, then decided that enough time had passed for Draco to have finished in _Madam Malkin's_, so he went to get his school robes.

When they left the robe shop, Hagrid turned to Harry and said, "Well, all yeh got left is yer wand, you'll be wantin' Ollivanders for that. Then I have to get you your birthday present, I'm thinking I'll get you a nice owl, something useful for yeh."

Harry's heart skipped several beats when Hagrid mentioned an owl, he managed to nod, and subtlety clear his throat before he replied, "Ok then, if you insist. You can go ahead and do that, and I'll get my wand?" Harry figured that Mr Ollivander would be a lot more perceptive than Hagrid, and so wanted to get his wand alone.

Hagrid agreed and they parted company at the entrance to the narrow and rather shabby looking shop, with peeling gold letters that read, _Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC._ Harry entered and approached the counter, before he reached it an old man appeared from behind a shelf on Harry's right, "Ah, I wondered when I would be seeing you Mr Potter."

Harry smiled at him, "Good morning Mr Ollivander," Harry really didn't want to go through trying half the wands in the shop, so decided to push the old wand-maker in the right direction, "I'd like to try as few wands as possible please. Perhaps you have one that is unique to my circumstances?" Harry knew he was pushing his luck, but the only person Ollivander would write to, would be Dumbledore, whom Harry was going to tell the truth to anyway.

Ollivander peered at Harry for a long time; he then spoke in a hushed voice, almost to himself, "I wonder..." He darted back down the shelf he came from, with surprising agility for a man of his age, and came back with a box, which he opened and presented to Harry, "Let us see if you are correct Mr Potter. Holly and phoenix feather, 11 inches."

Harry picked up the wand, and felt the sense of power and recognition flowing through his hand as it momentarily grew warm; the surge of magic around him was strong enough to force Mr Ollivander to take several steps back, "Extraordinary, and very curious." Harry sighed, and smiled up at the old man, "Thank you. Is it possible to get some kind of wrist holder for my wand? As it would be a pain to dig it out of my robes every time I need it."

To say that Mr Ollivander was surprised at Harry's request would have been an understatement, his eyebrows all but disappeared into his grey hair, "Certainly Mr Potter, I can provide a holster for your wand. It will cost nine galleons, and take me several days to create." Harry nodded his approval, "I'll pay for the wand and the holster now, and collect it in three days?"

After paying, Harry made his way outside, and found Hagrid just walking down the street from _Eeylops Owl Emporium_, carrying in a cage in his left hand, a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with its head under its wing. Harry's heart skipped several beats, as he walked slowly and carefully towards the giant and his beloved familiar. "Hey girl" he whispered to her, she didn't move, so Harry reached through the bars, and stroked her head, he looked up at Hagrid, and saw that the half-giant was very blurry, Harry quickly looked down and rubbed the tears out of his eyes, he cleared his throat and thanked Hagrid.

The two of them, made their way back to the Leaky for lunch, with Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage, Harry had stowed his wand in a trouser pocket for now, being a pair of Dudley's, the pocket was more than big enough. Harry smiled to himself as he remembered an old Auror telling him off for putting his buttocks in danger.

During lunch Hagrid was very fidgety, and Harry could guess why, Dumbledore had given Hagrid orders to take Harry back to the Dursleys, orders that, after seeing what happened on the rock, and knowing Harry's wishes, Hagrid was questioning. "Harry," Harry glanced up at Hagrid, and thought it best to speed the conversation along, "I am not going back to the Dursleys. Even if you force me to go there, I will just leave."

Hagrid didn't look at all surprised by Harry's remark, "I know yeh will Harry, that's why I'm gonna ask Tom to prepare a room for yeh 'ere." Harry took a few seconds to collect his thoughts, and then all but leaped out of his chair to hug Hagrid, "Thank you."

Hagrid patted him on the back, "Don't mention it Harry. Now, Dumbledore..." Harry quickly decided to play ignorant, "He won't come and send me back there will he?" Hagrid nodded his head grimly "He might." Upon seeing Harry's look of anger, and seeing the plates start to rattle, Hagrid quickly added, "But I will tell him everything I saw, and _try_ to make him see reason. I can't promise you it will work Harry, but I do promise to do everything I can to keep you away from those... to keep you away from them."

Harry relaxed his aura, and nodded, "Thank you Hagrid."

After lunch, Hagrid arranged a room for Harry, and then went off for his _talk_ with Dumbledore, whom Harry expected to come knocking, at best tomorrow, at worst in about 30 minutes, demanding that he return to Privet Drive at once; Harry was not looking forward to that conversation.

Harry got settled into his room, he decided that he would use his wand to get used to having one again, so he used it to unpack all of his books, and then made them fly about all over the room, he didn't actually need half of them, as he remembered them perfectly, one of the advantages of being a master occlumens, it gave him what muggles call a photographic memory, it was extremely useful for studying.

After making everything fly around the room for a while, Harry settled down onto the bed, and got out his mirror, "Ginny."

It took about 10 minutes before her worried looking face appeared in the glass, as soon as she laid eyes on Harry, the worry lines vanished and she smiled, "Hey you." Harry smiled in response, "Hey yourself. How are you?"

"Better, now that I've seen you. George, Percy and Fred got their Hogwarts letters today, Ron got his last week. I think mum's taking us to Diagon Alley tomorrow." Harry beamed at her, "Brilliant. I will see you tomorrow then. Erm, Gin... How was it, seeing Fred?"

Ginny took a deep breath, "It was hard, it wasn't so much as seeing him, as we saw George pretty often, but it was hard to see them both together," Harry saw that rather than tearing up as he was expecting, Ginny was trying to hide a blush, "Gin..."

"I couldn't help myself, I ran up to him and hugged him." Harry smiled at her, "I don't think that will affect too many things. You did hug the others though, right?" Ginny nodded.

"Ginny, when I went to Gringotts this morning, they gave me a letter..." Ginny furrowed her brows at Harry's hesitation, "What does it say?"

"I don't know. I can't open it." Before Ginny could reply Harry rasied a finger, and dug the letter out of his pocket with some difficulty 'I need some new clothes.'

He showed Ginny the front of the letter, and heard her gasp, "But...but how?" Harry shrugged, "I don't know Gin, but I think it will only open if we are both holding it." Ginny nodded her head slowly, and then disappeared from Harry's view, "Gin?" Harry heard a door close and click shut, "Come over, and we'll open it now."

"Ginny, I'm not sure that's such a good idea..." Harry saw the look on Ginny's face and knew that he was fighting a losing battle, he sighed "Fine."

A few seconds later, the two of them were sitting up on Ginny's bed, with the door and window warded, about to open the letter:

_Dear Mr and Mrs Potter,_

_First let me offer congratulations on behalf of Gringotts bank, we are writing to you to inform you, that as you are now married, you are recognised by Gringotts bank as legal adults, and as such are entitled to your full inheritance._

_This includes your family vault, as well as the largest vault Gringotts posses, the Peverell vault. Both of these are currently managed by us, if you wish alternative arrangements be made then please don't hesitate to contact me._

_Yours sincerely  
Gronuck  
Head of Gringotts bank_

Harry finished reading before Ginny, so sat there thinking about it, whilst waiting for her to finish, after a second she looked up to him, "Harry, how do they know we're married?" Ginny's voice was getting hysterical, so Harry quickly pulled her into a hug.

"I don't know Gin. Goblins have a different type of magic to us, maybe they can sense the marriage bond, deep within our magical cores." Harry was just thinking out loud, but it made sense to him. He was prevented from thinking about it any further when Ginny gasped, "Gin? What is it?"

Ginny swallowed, "If Gringotts know, does the ministry? Does Hogwarts? Mum would have a heart attack if my Hogwarts letter arrived addressed to Mrs Ginevra Potter!" Harry chuckled at that thought.

"I..." Harry stopped talking when a stray thought struck him, "Oh. No, I don't think the ministry knows. As for Hogwarts, the names are written down at birth, so you should be alright, but I can check that once I get there."

Ginny looked puzzled for a minute, before Harry almost heard the knut drop inside her head "The Wizengamot." Harry nodded at her, "Yeah, if the ministry recognised me as an adult, then they would have asked me to take up my family seat. As they haven't asked, we can assume they still consider me under-age; which means to them, we're not married." Ginny breathed a sigh of relief at Harry's reasoning.

They carried on chatting for a while, until Ginny got called to help start dinner, "Love you Harry. See you tomorrow." She kissed him on the cheek, "Love you too Gin. See you soon. Goodnight." With that Harry dropped the wards around the door and window, and then flashed back to room 11 at the Leaky Cauldron.

There were still several hours left before the shops closed, so Harry went out into the alley. His first point of call was Gringotts, he wanted to organise his vaults, get some Muggle money so he could go shopping for normal clothes, and he wanted to make sure the goblins never sent out any letters addressed to Ginny.

Harry had to wait until he got out of the Leaky and into Muggle London before he could heal his hand, "Stupid blood-sacrifice locks." Harry muttered under his breath as he healed the cut on his left hand, made by the door to his ancestral, and now only vault.

After several years of working at the Ministry, how knew his way around London pretty well, and managed to get himself an entire wardrobe of Muggle clothes in just under an hour. He smiled as he remembered a similar shopping trip he had taken with Ginny just after the war had ended, that trip had been much less productive, and not just because they couldn't keep their hands off each other.

Harry woke up quite late the following morning, as he was exhausted from doing some thought magic before he went to bed, as well as travelling for the past few days. He went over to Hedwig, who was just waking up as well, "Hey girl, do you like the name Hedwig?" she nipped him on the finger, and Harry smiled. He opened her cage, and went to the window, opening it, he turned to her and said, "Go on girl, have a good flight." She flew over to his shoulder and nipped him playfully on the ear, before soaring out the window; Harry watched her go, until she was just a spec on the horizon; a flash of red, caught his eye in the street below.

Harry looked down, and saw six red heads making their way down the alley, he smiled to himself as he turned away from the window to get dressed, before he went down to meet his best friend, his wife and the first real family he had ever known.

The Weasley's.

* * *

A/N – Well that sets it up nicely for the next chapter. I am still partially undecided about which of several routes I have, to go down. The extra's chapter that goes with this, is still in progress, it should be up in a few days (Edit - extra's chapter is now complete). I won't do what I see a lot of authors do, and beg for reviews, but I will say this, they do give me a warm fuzzy feeling .


	9. C 8 : The Weasley's

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – My apologies to all, with the holidays and some personal issues I have had very little time to write, and this chapter was very tricky to write, but I hope I've done it justice. Enjoy.

* * *

**The Weasley's**

Harry got dressed in record time, but when he reached his door to fling it open and run down stairs he paused, stopping to think about how exactly he was going to do this. 'I can't just go running up to them, I need a plan.' Harry stayed standing at the door for several minutes, before his plan finally came together inside his head.

Harry had a very quick breakfast in the Leaky, and tossed a galleon on the table, and all but ran outside, he got his wand out of his pocket, he didn't need it to open the alley, but he wanted to keep his wandless skills as secret as possible.

He made his way through the alley, keeping track of the large group of red heads as they moved down the street towards _Flourish & Blotts_; Harry entered after them.

As Harry moved through the shelves to find the books on animal care, he reached out with his mind to find Ginny; he smiled when he felt her excitement, and pushed a thought into her head, '_I'm by the owl books'_.

A few minutes later, a small red headed girl poked her head around the next shelf along, "Hi" she said.

Harry smiled at his wife, and playing along replied, "Hi", sticking his hand out "I'm Harry, Harry Potter." Harry had to fight down the desperate urge to burst out laughing at Ginny's faked reaction to his name.

"I'm Ginny, Ginny Po... Weasley" The classic Weasley blush spread across Ginny's face at her unintended slip up. Harry merely smiled at her, "Nice to meet you Ginny Po-Weasley."

Ginny just glared at her husband, and knowing what he was trying to do, asked, "Why are looking at owl books?" Harry quickly felt around to try and find where Mrs Weasley was and felt that she was just coming around the end of the row, he smiled slightly to himself, and gestured to the shelf, "I got an owl yesterday, my first ever birthday present, so I want to know how to take care of her properly."

Harry heard the gasp from the woman behind him, and turned round to see the woman that he regarded as a mother figure. "Hello, from the red hair, would you be Ginny's mum?"

To say that Molly Weasley was shocked would have been an understatement, she managed to collect her thoughts, before she spoke, "Yes, I am. I see you've met my Ginny, what may I ask is your name?" Molly didn't really need to ask, the hair, the face, and those eyes, could only belong to one person.

Harry smiled at her, and introduced himself, "I'm Harry Potter." Thankfully Mrs Weasley didn't react much to his name at all. "It's very nice to meet you Harry, who are you here in the alley with?"

This was the part Harry knew he had to get right if he wanted some sort of freedom at the Burrow, "I have a room at the Leaky Cauldron; the barman knows I'm out here."

Molly Weasley was already fighting at a temper from hearing that the boy had never received a birthday present, and to now be told he was staying on his own, she was going to be having words with his guardians about this, "Where are your guardians?"

Harry was hoping she wouldn't ask that, but resigned himself to the fact she probably would, he sighed, "My _guardians_ hate me, they would rather I never existed. Hagrid took me away from them two nights ago, and I am never going back." As Harry spoke he began to raise his voice slightly, and push his aura out just enough to shake the books on the nearby shelf.

"Ok Harry, if you don't want to go back to them, I won't make you." Molly spoke with a forced calm, as she subtlety reached for her wand. Harry did not miss the move for her wand so brought his aura in, and the books slowly stopped shaking.

Having raised seven children, Molly knew all the ins and outs of accidental magic, but she had never seen such a show of control from someone so young. Whilst Molly was still wrapping her mind around the level of control she had just witnessed, she heard Harry mutter something unintelligible under his breath, "I'm sorry dear, what did you say?"

"Dumbledore might." Molly Weasley didn't move, she just stood very still; before her stood a boy, whose parents were brutally murdered, his name was known by all, and he had been treated worse than a house-elf for his entire life, and Albus Dumbledore was to blame, at least partially.

Harry carefully studied Mrs Weasley's face as she processed what he had said, after a second or two Mrs Weasley spoke again, with such a forced calm that even the other Weasley children who had gathered round their mother by now, could tell she was very mad, "I will be having a few words with Albus."

Harry and Ginny shared a look, and quickly covered almost identical smirks. Ginny moved forward towards her brothers, and spoke, "Harry these are my brothers; Percy, Fred, George, and Ron" Ginny gestured to each of them as she spoke. "Guys, this is Harry Potter."

* * *

After the looks of shock, followed by the customary stares and looks at his scar, Mrs Weasley invited Harry to accompany them shopping, "Its Ron's first time at Hogwarts this year as well." Harry smiled as he looked over his shoulder at his best mate, he spoke to him, but loud enough for all to hear, "I picked up most of my stuff yesterday, but it would be nice to have company."

As they walked through Diagon Alley, Harry drifted towards the back of the group where Ron was; Ron's reaction to Harry had been the same as before, and if Harry was honest with himself, Ron's core character hadn't really changed much in the eleven years he'd known him. Although he did seem more mature at this age then Harry remembered; he would have to ask Ginny about that later. Harry and Ron got chatting at the back, about the one subject Harry knew would make them fast friends; quidditch.

Ginny was on Harry's other side, occasionally chiming into the conversation as well, when the two of them got into a discussion about the current league scores, Harry's thoughts drifted to the other Weasleys. Percy was even more pompous and stuck up then Harry recalled, but then he did remember that Percy only really mellowed out slightly, after reconciling with his family after the war.

The twins, well it was a bit of a shock at seeing the both of them, but Harry quickly got over that, as the twins were the twins; Harry had been on alert for a prank to come his way since he started walking with them. Mrs Weasley was the same as she had been before the final battle, Harry made a silent vow right then, to make sure she'd never have to suffer the loss of a child, or take a life.

They were shopping for a while, picking up the new books needed for Percy and the twins, and all the supplies for Ron; second-hand. When they were walking past Ollivanders, Harry spoke up, "Ron don't you need to get a wand?" Ron looked at Harry then glanced at the shop before looking down at his feet, and mumbling something, Harry was just about to ask what it was, when Mrs Weasley spoke "Harry dear, Ron is going to be using his Brother Charlie's wand."

Harry saw this as an opportunity, to get Ron a proper wand, but he knew he had to tread very carefully, "But, he can't use someone else's wand." The twins and Percy just gave him a blank stare, whilst Ron was staring at the ground, Ginny gave Harry a quick smile, and was about to speak, before Mrs Weasley beat her to it, "That's nonsense Harry, of cou-"

But Harry interrupted her, "No, you can use any wand, but unless the wand has chosen you as its master, you will never get the best results with it. Mr Ollivander told me yesterday, 'The Wand Chooses the wizard.' Ron could use his brother's wand," Harry looked towards Ron and put a hand on his shoulder, "but I'm sorry mate, you'd be at a disadvantage to everyone else."

Ginny was trying not to run over and hug her husband for what he was trying to do, she could only hope her mother would let him. Mrs Weasley stood in silence for a few seconds, her opinion of this young lad, already quite high, had just gone through the roof; and he had called Ron his friend, they'd only known each other for a couple of hours, although she had noticed that Ginny stayed very close to him, and the looks that were passed between them had Molly smiling.

"I'm sorry Ron dear, but we can't afford a new wand for you. We'll save up and try and get you one for Christmas, how's that?" Ron's face fell, but picked up when she mentioned Christmas, and it gave Harry an idea.

"Ron, how about I get you an early Christmas present?" Harry said, silently hoping that Ginny would help him out if Mrs Weasley didn't go for it. Ron looked up from his shoes to stare at Harry with open eyes, "You... You'd do that for me?" Harry had to refrain from rolling his eyes; Ron's sense of inadequacy would always be there, though Harry hoped his jealousy could be dealt with sooner rather than later.

"Of course Ron, I... Well, Ginny and you are the first friends I've ever had; and I'd like to get you a present."

Five minutes later, the seven of them wandered into Mr Ollivander's shop, Ron was acting much like Ginny would have at that age, had Harry not been around, Harry glanced at his wife then pointedly looked at Ron and smiled at her, Ginny had great difficulty in containing her giggles, and eventually had to resort to hiding behind the twins.

Thanks to his occlumency Harry managed to keep a calm face on, it was then that the six Weasleys jumped as Mr Ollivander, whom Harry had sensed coming, poked his head around the corner, "Ah Mr Potter, and who is this fine family?"

"Mr Ollivander, this is the Weasley family, we're here to get Ron's first wand." Harry gestured to his friend, who was literally bouncing on his feet.

"Right then Mr Weasley stand here and hold out your right hand." He spoke as the magical tape measure started to measure every possible thing there was to measure on a human being. After a while, Ollivander had several boxes down off the shelves, as the tape measure crumpled to a heap on the floor, "Right then, here we go, try this one."

It took the better part of an hour, but eventually Ron found his wand, fourteen inches, willow and unicorn hair; he left the shop a very happy boy. Eventually it was only Ginny and Harry left in the shop, Ginny was waiting for Harry, who was lagging behind to ask about his holster.

As Mr Ollivander turned and saw it was just the two of them, he flicked his wand at the door, sealing it, Harry had his wand out and pointed at Ollivander's face before the door had finished closing, "Put that down." Harry spoke in a voice that left no room for argument.

"There is no need for violence Mr Potter, I'm sure your wife here wouldn't appreciate that." Harry relieved the old man of his wand, and then put his own charms on the door, he kept his wand pointed at Ollivanders face as Ginny came and stood next to her husband. Harry spoke with a forced calm that Ginny hadn't heard for a couple of years, "What are you talking about?"

Mr Ollivander was taken aback at the ease with which Harry disarmed him, the young man's wand hadn't even twitched, and yet his wand was in Harry's hand. "That was impressive Mr Potter," Harry's glare and still steady wand, caused Mr Ollivander to raise his hands up in an open gesture, "I apologise Mr Potter, but I can sense you and your wife's marriage bond, and I was only going to ask you a couple of questions about it."

Harry nodded, but still didn't move his wand, "Then start asking. I'm sure the other Weasleys will be trying to break down that door very soon."

Mr Ollivander gave a quiet gulp, and was starting to have second thoughts about sealing the door, "I was just curious about how the two of you came to be married so young, and also your comments yesterday Mr Potter, left me burning with curiosity."

"Then I'm afraid your curiosity is going to have to go un-answered, yes we are married, but we are not telling you how, and I want an oath from you that you will not tell _anyone_. As for my comments yesterday, well, you'd be surprised what you can learn when you get a half-giant drunk." Harry knew his comment about Hagrid wouldn't check out, but hoped that Ollivander believed him; he really didn't want to have to resort to the Lockhart method.

Ollivander considered Harry's offer, "Very well Mr Potter, I shall give you an oath of secrecy, but please I must know how you knew that the brother wand would choose you?"

Harry smiled at him, and lying through his teeth said, "I didn't. I'm going to give you back your wand now. Do _not_ try anything." At Ollivander's nod Harry through the wand over to the man, who then held it out in front of him, "I swear on my life and my magic to never tell anyone about the marriage of Harry James Potter until a time when it becomes public knowledge." The small flair of magic from the old man's wand signified the completion of the oath "Is that satisfactory Mr Potter?"

"Yes it is." Harry's wand, which hadn't moved since he got it out, slowly began to lower as Ollivander put his away, "Right then, now that's dealt with, I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about my magical skill, at least until it becomes widely known?" At Ollivander's nod Harry continued with the real reason he had stayed behind, "Well the reason I am here, is to check on the status of my wrist holster."

Mr Ollivander stood up and made his way to the back of the shop, and returned with a small object made of a dark leather type material with several straps, "Here it is Mr Potter." Harry accepted it, and was about to open his mouth when Ollivander spoke again, "Before you ask, yes I know I said it would take several days, but with the question's you raised in me yesterday, I finished it quickly in the hope of seeing you sooner."

Harry accepted this, and took the holster, he smiled as he recognised it, it was virtually identical to the one Ollivander himself had given him after the war. He slipped it into place, and fastened the straps, as he did; it disappeared; although Harry could still feel its presence. He put his wand back into his right hand, and activated the holster with the subtle flick of his wrist.

Ollivander spoke, "The holster not only requires the wrist movement, but also the will of the user, the wand will only come out, or go back, when you want it to. It also cannot be summoned away or damaged within the holster, it is also self cleaning." Harry nodded, and smiled at the last part as he glanced at Ginny who was always complaining that he never took the damn thing off.

"Thank you Mr Ollivander, I hope our little incident will remain confidential?" At Mr Ollivander's nod, Harry flicked his wand out into his hand and undid the charms at the door. No sooner had he flicked his wand back then Mrs Weasley burst back into the room, with her wand drawn, Harry didn't bring his wand out, but moved in front of Ginny.

Before Harry could speak Mr Ollivander spoke up, "It is my fault Mrs Weasley, I wished to ask Mr Potter here a few questions in private, and young Miss Weasley refused to leave him. My sincere apologies for worrying you, it was not intentional."

Molly was about to lay into Ollivander, when she noticed that Harry had moved in front of her daughter, and all of his muscles were tensed as if ready for a fight, this was also confirmed when she noticed that his gaze hadn't shifted once from her. Molly realised that his childhood must have been a lot worse than she feared if that was his reaction to her entrance, if he had relaxed then she would have dismissed it, but the fact that he hadn't moved an inch since she came in, and Ginny also wasn't fighting to get round him, she realised the two of them had formed a very close bond in such a short space of time. As she put her wand away she spoke, "It's ok Mr Ollivander I apologise for coming in the way I did, but I was worried about my children."

Harry's heat skipped a beat when she called them her children; they only met a couple of hours ago! Harry also heard Ginny's gasp at her mother's words. Once Ginny sensed Harry had relaxed she grabbed his hand, ignoring her mother's quick glance, and they walked out the store hand in hand. Harry shot a look over his shoulder to Ollivander, who merely nodded at him.

Once the explanation had been given to the others, they began walking to the Leaky Cauldron, with Harry and Ginny still holding hands, seemingly unknowingly. Ron dropped back to Harry's other side, his first question was, "Why are you holding hands with my sister?"

Harry felt Ginny's hand tense in his before she spoke, "I am right here Ronald; and I am holding hands because I want to, and I like him." Harry didn't know if the blush that was creeping up Ginny's face was real or faked, but it had the desired effect as it made Ron stop questioning, although he did give them a final remark, "Harry, don't ever hurt my sister."

Harry spoke with such emotion in his voice that even this stubborn, under-sensitive, slightly immature Ron, believed it, "I never would."

When they were coming to the portal back into the Leaky Cauldron the group stopped, and Molly pulled Harry to one side, "Harry dear, I'm sorry about my reaction in the shop, but-" Harry raised his hand to silence, her, "It's ok Mrs Weasley, there was no harm done."

Molly nodded and continued, "I see you have become quick friends with Ron, and you seem to have become quite close to my daughter." Harry desperately tried to fight his blush but couldn't control it all.

"Yes Ron is a decent guy, he is a bit insensitive to others, but with so many older brothers that can be understood, and as for Ginny... well she's a very nice young lady." Harry said whilst blushing again.

Molly merely smiled at him, she glanced over her shoulder to see that Ginny has positioned herself as close as possible to them; smiling again she turned back to Harry and said, "I think Harry that staying by yourself in the Leaky Cauldron is hardly the best place for a young wizard."

Harry controlled his reaction, and asked, "But where else could I go?"

Molly crouched down to be eye-level with him, "Harry dear, we have plenty of room at The Burrow, you can come and stay with us."

Harry had to partially fake his reaction, in a shocked voice he asked, "Really?"

Molly smiled at the young boy, who had clearly never known love, "Yes dear, as you and Ginny seem so close, maybe you could share her room till you go off to Hogwarts?"

Harry's reaction to that required no faking at all, "What... um... er, yes please."

Molly chuckled at him, "Come on then, go and pack up your trunk, we'll meet you by the fireplace, then floo home."

Harry said thank you and quickly hugged a surprised Mrs Weasley before running past her, grabbing Ginny's hand and darting into the Leaky Cauldron and up to his room.

Once in his room, Harry spun round and sealed the door, before sweeping Ginny up in a massive hug, it was a slightly breathless Ginny who spoke, "Harry whats going on?"

Harry gave her a huge smile, "I'm coming to stay at the Burrow until September." Ginny smiled and gave him a hug in return. Whilst still hugging Harry continued, "I'll be staying in your room." Ginny gave a small scream, and leaned back to kiss Harry.

After the kiss Ginny pulled back and a large blush was forming on her face, "Sorry about that, I know we said no kissing but-" Harry silenced her with another kiss, "Never apologise for kissing me Gin; although you might want to tone it down a little around company." Ginny blushed again, whist giving her husband a mock glare, Harry merely smiled at her.

Whilst they were looking at each other Ginny noticed out of the corner of her eye, that Harry's belongings were packing themselves in his trunk, she gasped, "How?"

Harry smiled as he levitated them both of the ground with just a thought, "Magic."

* * *

"So Harry, how did you meet the family?" It was Mr Weasley who asked the question, as everyone was sat around the Burrow's kitchen table enjoying dinner, Ginny was of course sitting next to Harry.

"Well, I was looking at owl books in Diagon alley, and Ginny came up to me and said hello," Harry looked at his wife, and saw that whilst she was blushing for about the twentieth time today, she was smiling at him, "We got talking, and then Mrs Weasley came over, and asked me to go shopping with them."

Arthur looked at the young boy that his wife had come home with, "So dear, you go out for books and robes and come back with a new wand for Ron, and a young boy in tow." The twins snickered, as Ron snorted, Ginny grabbed Harry's hand under the table, and was controlling laughter, Harry just stared at Mr Weasley with a calm face on, whilst Mrs Weasley was spluttering and blushing herself.

Arthur smiled at the reaction he got from his family, he looked back at the young boy who, from what Molly had told him had suffered a great deal in his childhood, "Harry, you are more than welcome to stay here, for as long as you need. Although there will be no messing around with my daughter." Harry almost choked on his food, as did Ginny, whilst the others were either staring at Mr Weasley or Harry and Ginny with shocked expressions.

Molly was about to yell at her husband for even suggesting such a thing, but Harry spoke first, "I can assure you Mr Weasley; there will be no messing around." 'At least not for a few years' Harry added in his mind, out of the corner of his eye he saw Ginny nodding her head, and give him a quick wink, which everyone else missed.

Arthur nodded, and dinner continued with no further mention of the seemingly budding relationship between the two youngest in the room. After dinner, the twins and Ron played exploding snap whilst Harry watched; Ginny was watching as well, leaning into Harry more than was strictly necessary.

After a couple of games Harry asked for him and Ginny to be dealt in, after having the rules explained to him, and silencing the protests of Ginny joining in with just a look, he then proceeded to trounce all of them so badly that after the third game Ron through the pack away, and stood up, "Right no more of that, Harry can you play chess?" Harry smirked at his friend as a plan of action formed in his mind, he nodded, "Yep."

Around ten minutes later the whole family was gathered round to watch the chess match, whilst Harry had eleven years more experience than Ron; Ron was always the master strategist.

The game went on for hours, only after Ginny barely stifled a yawn did Harry look around and see that everyone was quite tired and that it was getting quite late, so sighing he enacted his plan.

Twenty minutes later, Harry and Ginny were cuddled up in her magically enlarged bed, with a muffliato around the room, and an intruder charm in the hall to give Harry warning if someone approached it. He would only need a split second to silently apparate to the camp bed set up on the floor.

They had been lying there just enjoying finally being in each other's arms again, when Ginny asked, "How did you manage to beat Ron? It looked like it was going to go on for hours!" Ginny looked up to see that Harry was pointedly looking away from her, and controlling a blush that she could see at the top of his new red and gold silk pyjamas, "Harry?"

"Well like you said the game was going to go on for hours, and you were tired and-" Ginny silenced his ramblings with a finger to his lips, "Harry what did you do?"

Harry smiled sheepishly at her, "Erm... I kind of, sort of..." he sighed, "I used legilimency on him and plucked the moves he was going to make out of his head."

"Oh," Before Harry could question her response she descended into hysterics, so loud that Harry was quite glad he put the muffliato charm up. After a couple of minutes, Ginny was calm enough to talk again, although it was still punctuated with giggles, "Even with eleven years of experience on him, you still couldn't win."

Harry groaned and kissed her forehead, "Goodnight Gin."

Harry was just nodding off to sleep when he realised that his prediction hadn't come true, Dumbledore, hadn't come calling, 'hmm' Harry thought to himself, 'maybe Hagrid got through to him.'

* * *

Harry awoke the next morning, to a face full of red hair, as Ginny was laid out across his chest, he quickly checked the time, and decided that it was time for his morning run. He gently nudged her in the ribs, "hmm no, more." Harry laughed softly, the moving of his chest roused Ginny, she looked up at him with slightly bleary eyes, "Morning."

Harry leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss, "Morning, I was going to go for my run, care to join me?" she rolled over and sat up stretching, "Yeah ok. Hmm I've missed this." She gestured to the space between them, "So have I Gin. You want the bathroom first?"

She nodded and made her way to the bathroom; Harry dropped the charm on the room, but decided to leave the monitoring charm in the hall up. He climbed out of Ginny's bed, making sure to return it to its original dimensions. As he walked over to his trunk to get some clothes out, he made the covers on his camp bed rumple up so it appeared to be slept in, he even added a small warming charm to it. When he turned round, running clothes in hand he smiled at his handiwork and proceeded to sit on the edge of Ginny's bed waiting for her to finish in the bathroom.

Ten minutes later the two of them were running a large circle around the burrow and the orchard, barely out of breath Harry spoke, "You've been practising." Ginny turned to her husband and smiled, "You didn't think I was just sitting about the house, helping mum and dealing with Ron now did you?"

Harry looked at her, "Dealing with Ron?"

Ginny started to slow down as they reached the edge of the orchard, it was one of the furthest points from the Burrow itself on their little circuit, "I've been trying to get him to grow up, and stop being so immature and jealous of others all the time."

"Oh." Harry said as he raised his eyebrows, "That explains a few things." Ginny looked up at him, "You noticed?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah definatly, don't get me wrong he still has a way to go, but he's a lot better than he was last time." Harry paused with a thoughtful expression, "Maybe I won't have to push him into Hermione; he might see her for himself."

Ginny nodded, "Let's hope so, I really don't want to have to deal with him if he doesn't." Harry agreed, "Definatly, that was not a pleasant couple of months, hell it wasn't a pleasant year!"

Ginny sighed, "It will be different this time Harry, you'll have me." She closed the gap between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. Harry smiled down at her, "Yes I will." Harry was leaning down to kiss her, when he stopped, Ginny was about to protest when she saw the look in Harry's eyes, "Harry what is it?"

Harry closed his eyes and let out a deep breath, "Dumbledore's here."

"Oh. You felt him?" Harry nodded, "Yeah, apparently he doesn't take my stance on suppressing auras."

Ginny giggled, "Is mum up yet?"

Harry felt around, "Yeah she's in the kitchen, Dumbledore has just got there; if we sneak back quietly we might be able to hear her give him a piece of her mind." Harry smiled a predatory grin that would have made any marauder proud, Ginny just giggled at him and leaned in to kiss his cheek, "Lead on, Spikey."

As the two made their way back to the kitchen quietly, Harry felt the intruder ward go off on Ginny's room, "Uh oh" Ginny looked at him with a concerned look, he answered her unspoken question, "Your dad as just checked on your room."

Ginny spoke, the confidence in her words didn't match that of her voice, "Well both beds appear slept in, you got up for your morning run, and I asked to go with you."

Harry just nodded, he was reaching out to try and hear the conversation in the kitchen, but Mrs Weasley's next rant didn't require advanced hearing, Harry was sure that even the Lovegood's would have heard it.

"HE IS JUST A CHILD ALBUS, THOSE MUGGLES NEVER SHOWED HIM ANY LOVE, OR CARE AT ALL, HIS FIRST EVER PRESENT WAS FROM HAGRID. MY GINNY AND RON WERE HIS FIRST EVER FRIENDS!"

Harry looked over at Ginny, "I think we should probably go and rescue him," Ginny just shook her head, "Nah, let him suffer for a bit longer." Harry laughed at her, "Ok."

The two of them crept closer to the kitchen, Harry head Dumbledore's voice trying to convince Molly that he was safe at the Dursleys, and smiled sadly as he remembered his old mentor. Whilst Harry had had many a discussion with the headmaster's portrait, it just wasn't the same as talking to him across the desk, or seeing the twinkle in his eye.

Harry looked across at Ginny, who answered his unspoken question with a nod, sighing they stood up and walked into the kitchen.

* * *

A/N – *Evil laugh*


	10. C 9 : The Talk

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – I think this is a record for fastest chapter. Enjoy.

* * *

**The Talk**

As the two of them approached the kitchen, Harry quickly checked his occlumency shields and made sure his aura was suppressed. When they entered through the back door, Harry spoke first, "Good Morning Mrs Weasley," he nodded at Dumbledore, "Headmaster; I think you and I need to have a chat."

Dumbledore was slightly shocked at Harry's statement, not only did the young boy know who he was, but he just seemed to radiate calmness, and a self-confidence that Albus hadn't seen for many a year. "Yes Mr Potter I believe we do. As I was just explaining to Mrs Weasley here, you need to return to your Aunt and Uncle's place, it is the saf-"

Harry interrupted him, "I didn't want to have to do this Albus, but you leave me no choice," Harry sighed and took a deep breath, "I Harry James Potter, no longer call Number 4 Privet Drive my home."

Albus just stared at Harry wide eyed with shock at what the young boy had done, and seemingly knowingly, "Harry-"

Harry raised his hand to silence the Headmaster. "Good morning Mr Weasley." Harry called out to the red haired wizard who was approaching the bottom of the stairs. "I think you might want to have a seat, the headmaster will have a few things to discuss with you, when I'm finished with him." Harry smiled an innocent smile that had Ginny desperately holding back laughter; Harry also had to rely on his occlumency to keep from laughing at the expression on Albus's face.

Harry took a small step to the side and gestured out the door they had just come from, he was about to speak when he felt the subtle presence of a legilimency attack on his mind. Harry dropped his hand, and stared the headmaster straight in the eye, and waited.

After almost five minutes and some more than puzzled looks from Molly and Arthur, Dumbledore leaned back in his chair seemingly exhausted, and a frown on his face, Harry then spoke up, "Now that I've proved that is an exercise in futility, perhaps a walk around the orchard, Albus?"

The Weasleys just stared on in shock, wondering what on earth Harry was on about, Albus was eyeing the young boy wearily, thinking to himself that no boy that age could have occlumency shields at all, let alone ones strong enough to stop him. Albus was just about to agree to the walk, if nothing he hoped he could get some answers from the enigma before him, when he was interrupted by Mrs Weasley, "I'm sorry, but what is going on here!"

Harry smiled over at her, "The headmaster and I are going to have a nice long chat, to which Ginny is invited as well," Harry looked at his wife, who was nodding, "and after we're done I shall try and answer some of your questions. Well then Albus, after you."

Five minutes later the two Potter's and Albus were walking through the Burrow's orchard, when Albus suddenly stopped and turned to face them, before he could speak Harry raised his hand to quiet them and snapped his wand into place, to put up some privacy charms, he decided to keep his wandless skills extremely secret for the time being.

Albus stared at the young boy in even more shock; he had just placed, if Albus's senses were correct, six different privacy wards around them, two of which Albus didn't even recognise! Albus started to put a few things together, Harry's knowledge of magic, and clear skill, he deliberately collapsed the blood-wards and the young girl had been clinging to him in a way no ten year old girl should, Albus sighed and wished he had some of his lemon drops as he feared this would not be a pleasant conversation, "How old are you Harry?"

Harry grinned at him, "An excellent question Albus, why don't you sit down?" Harry flicked his wand out and conjured a squishy armchair for Dumbledore and a small red sofa for him and Ginny.

Albus took the proffered seat, and looked at the couple sitting opposite practically in each others laps, "I take it Harry that this charming young lady is your wife?" Harry's answering smile was big enough to not require a response, Albus chuckled, "Right then, when _are_ you from Harry?"

Harry sighed, "June 14th 2002." Albus's eyebrows shot up in surprise, Harry questioned him "You expected us to be from further in the future?"

Albus nodded slowly, "Yes Harry, I feared that the second war, when it eventually came, would be far more devastating than the last."

Harry could see what his mentor was thinking and interrupted him, "Albus, we didn't come back by choice. The war was long over, we were happily married, and life was going great. Then I cross paths with some sort of freakish time device, and we..." Harry blushed remembering what brought them here, "Erm..."

Ginny decided to try and save her husband some embarrassment, "We kissed and he touched the time thingy, next thing we know we wake up, just over a month ago."

Albus was shocked, if the war was over then Harry must have discovered the truth, he looked at the young wizard, "Harry, I... I am not sure where to begin... if what you say is true, and I believe that it is, then... you must have..." Harry nodded, "Harry I can only hope you can-"

Harry raised his hand to silence the headmaster, "Albus, believe me when I say, I spent many months wanting to curse you into oblivion." Albus winced at that, and looked at Ginny for confirmation, she just nodded, he detected the faint trace of anger in her eyes, sighing again, and beginning to feel his 111 years, Albus spoke, "I can see that this is going to be a long conversation, one which, I doubt I shall be pleased to hear." Harry nodded. "Then perhaps the two of you would like to get changed into something more comfortable and have some breakfast?"

Ginny looked across at her husband, and saw that he was considering the idea, after a few seconds of deliberation he nodded, "Ok Albus, but don't think this gets you out of the bollocking my wife wants to give you." Albus looked at the feral grin on Ginny's face and swallowed.

The young couple left Albus in the orchard and ran back to the kitchen, when they got there, they found Mr and Mrs Weasley having a big discussion about what on earth they could be talking about, Mr Weasley then spotted them "Ah Good morning Harry, Ginny. What did you need to discuss with the headmaster?" Ginny whispered in his ear, "I'm going to get showered; I'll leave them to you." Harry gave his wife a small glare, but quickly altered his features, and directed his attention back to Mr Weasley, to answer his question, and to avoid looking at the way Ginny was walking towards the stairs.

"Mr Weasley, some things came to light during Hagrid's rescue of me, and I need to discuss them with the headmaster. He is waiting for us in the orchard, he suggested we get showered from our run, and then have some breakfast, because it could be a long talk." Harry made his way over to the cupboards and was about to start getting things out, when Mrs Weasley came back to her senses.

"Harry dear, I can understand if you don't want to talk about them, but these things should be discus-" Mrs Weasley stopped in mid-sentence from the glare that Harry gave her, he relaxed his features and spoke calmly, "Mrs Weasley, I can see your trying to help me, and rest assured I will be talking about it with the headmaster," Harry added as an afterthought "and Ginny. But after today, my _relatives_ will never be brought up in conversation again."

Mrs Weasley sighed, and hid a smile when he said he was going to confide in Ginny, she hadn't seen that girl so happy in a long time. "Ok Harry, I can accept that." Harry barely managed to control his shocked expression, but managed to speak, "Ok, I'll start on some break-"

"You will do no such thing young man." Mrs Weasley scolded him as she got up, "I'll do breakfast for everyone, you go on up and get dressed, I suspect Ginny's almost finished in the shower by now, and the others will be up soon."

Harry smiled at her and made his way up stairs to their room, he almost bumped into Ginny as she came out of the bathroom with her hair still dripping wet; she smiled sweetly at him, and adjusted the towel that was round her, before stepping across the hall into their bedroom. Harry shook his head to clear the images that Ginny's apperance had brought up in his mind, and moved into the bathroom, he looked up when he felt Ron open his bedroom door, "Smell of food wake you up Ron?" Ron just vacantly nodded and made his way past Harry down stairs, Harry just sighed and got in the shower.

After a wonderful breakfast of sausages and fried eggs, the two of them made their way out back towards the orchard, with a hastily put together picnic basket from Molly. As they approached they saw that Albus hadn't moved from his armchair, though he was deep in thought, Harry quickly got Ginny to be quiet, and the two of them snuck up behind the armchair, they both stood up, and leaned forward and after Harry's hand signals shouted together "BOO."

Albus jumped about three foot in the air, he spun round and with his wand out to see the young couple, on the floor laughing hysterically, protected by a shimmering shield which had a faint red glow. Once Albus's heart rate and breathing had returned to normal, he spoke, "Did the two of you have a nice breakfast?"

Ginny just started laughing harder, "Yes, but coming out of the shower was more fun." Harry groaned, and muttered "minx." This caused Ginny to sit up and give him a kiss, which was quickly stopped by a loud cough from Albus.

"Perhaps we could talk now?" Albus gestured to the red sofa. Sighing Harry and Ginny got up of the floor, put the picnic basket in reach of them all, and sat down on the sofa, with Ginny in Harry's lap, Albus eyes twinkled a little at the sight of young love.

Ginny looked to Harry, he quickly checked all the charms were still in place, "Ok Albus, this will probably go better if you ask questions, rather than we just start telling you _everything_."

Albus nodded slowly, catching Harry's emphasis on the word everything, he sighed "You do not trust me Harry."

Harry looked down at his fingers intertwined with Ginny's in her lap, "Not completely Albus. I know about your past, I think you can understand why I would like to withhold some information."

Sighing again, Albus spoke, "If what I suspect you learnt is correct Harry, I thank you for trusting me at all." Harry looked up at him quickly, and gave a small smile and a quick nod, "Very well Harry, when does Voldemort return? And what exactly is your plan regarding his defeat? Assuming of course you have made one?"

Harry smiled at him, "Towards the end of my fourth year, and I plan on killing him when he returns to human form. In the mean time, I will keep up my training, make sure all of his marked followers are arrested, and hunt down and destroy his Horcruxes."

Albus whispered the word "Horcruxes." Harry nodded gravely, "Yes Albus, he succeeded, in making them. At this point in time he has _made_ five."

Albus spoke in a hushed whisper "Five?" Harry nodded. "I take it you know where they all are?"

Harry smiled and nodded, "Yeah, although one of them will be very tricky to get. And by the time he comes to die, he will have made another one, which I should be able to destroy just before I kill him. The seventh Horcrux is the one I'm least looking forward to destroying."

Albus looked down at his hands, "I'm sorry Harry; I hope I told you-"

Before he could continue Ginny interrupted him, "No you didn't tell him, he had to find out from the memories Snape gave him with his dying breath!" Harry placed his hand on Ginny's thigh, and gave it a gentle squeeze, she relaxed into him.

Albus merely looked down, Harry interrupted what he expected was going to be a depressive spiral from the headmaster, "Albus, I don't blame you. At least I don't blame you anymore." Dumbledore looked up, and Harry could see the sadness in his eyes, "How did I die Harry?"

Harry gently nudged Ginny who got the message and slid off him, Harry got up and knelt in front of his old mentor, "Do you really want to know Albus?" without waiting for an answer Harry pressed on, "A lot of people died; everyone was changed; the world was changed. I swear to you now, I will do everything in my power to save those who can be saved."

Albus stared down at the young boy in front of him; he took a deep breath, and removed a handkerchief from his robes. After blowing his crocked nose, he spoke "You are right Harry; I do not wish to know. And I believe that you will do everything you can, and I promise to help you in any way I can."

"And to not be a manipulative bastard." Ginny added on, Harry spun round, and frowned at his wife, who merely raised her eyebrows at him, he turned back to look up at Albus's face, "While I may not entirely agree with my wife's wording, she is right."

Albus took another deep breath, and nodded, "Alright then, what do you need me to do?"

Harry rejoined his wife on the sofa, and she immediately snuggled back into his lap, he smiled at her, when Harry looked over at Dumbledore he saw the small twinkle had returned to the man's eyes, Harry smirked at him. "I'm not sure yet Albus, for now I think just go on as normal, I would quite like to enjoy a normal summer holiday for once." Ginny giggled in his lap, as Albus frowned, but decided not to voice his questions, Harry would tell him when he wanted to.

Harry was about to suggest that they had back inside, when Ginny gasped, Harry hadn't felt anything around them so looked at his wife concerned, he reached up to cradle her face, "Gin what is it?"

She spoke one word that had both of the wizard's minds going at full speed, "Sirius" Harry looked at her with a puzzled expression until the Knut dropped "You think we can clear his name?" Ginny nodded, "Without exposing Pettigrew?" again Ginny nodded, so Harry asked the obvious question, "How?"

Ginny looked over at the headmaster who's brow was furrowed as he struggled to grasp what the two in front of him were saying, sensing Ginny's gaze he looked up, and said, "Sirius is innocent?"

Ginny nodded, but a quick squeeze on the ribs stopped her from telling the story, she looked down at Harry, and she sighed and nodded her head, before snuggling, if possible, even deeper into Harry's chest.

Harry told Dumbledore the tale, "Sirius decided along with my father to switch secret keepers; to Peter Pettigrew." Dumbledore's eyes widened at that news, Harry nodded, "Yeah, everyone knew that my Dad and Sirius were brothers in all but blood, he was the obvious choice. So they decided to do a secret switch of secret-keepers."

The twinkle was gone from Albus's eyes, as he realised that an innocent man who he had considered a friend had spent ten years in the worst place on earth, "Miss Weasley, or rather Mrs Potter," Ginny beamed at him, he gave a small chuckle, "What is your plan of action to clear Sirius's name without Peter Pettigrew, and why would you... You know where he is. Don't you?"

While the question was directed at Ginny, it was Harry who replied, "Yes we do, but he can't be exposed, not yet. He is instrumental in bringing about Voldemort's resurrection, if we expose him too soon, or he escapes, then it throw's the time-line completely out of whack, and our future knowledge is useless."

Albus sighed, seeing the logic in Harry's plan, "Very well, I may not like letting a murderer go free, but he is the one responsible for your parents deaths, if you can leave him be, then so can I." Harry gave the man a small smile and a curt nod, so Albus continued, "So Mrs Potter," Ginny held out her hand to stop him, "As much as I like that name Headmaster, I think it would be for the best, if you called me Ginny; we don't want any slip-ups."

Albus's eyes twinkled when she said she liked the name, but nodded at her, "Very well, Ginny," she gave him a warm smile, "What is your plan?"

Ginny sat up straight though was still leaning against Harry, "As Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, you could give him the trial he should have gotten ten years ago." Albus's smile faded slightly when she reminded him of the injustice.

"I cannot simply call for a trial of someone who has severed ten years, despite the injustice of him never having one. How do you propose I bring this up?"

Harry smiled and simply said "Me."

Dumbledore shot him a questioning glance, as did Ginny, until recognition flooded her face and she leaned down to kiss him, they were again interrupted by a loud cough from the headmaster, whom Ginny shot a glare at.

"Harry please explain what you mean to an old man."

Harry smirked at him, "My fame, and your reputation. Upon my re-entering the wizarding world, I stumble upon a lovely wizarding family," Ginny giggled at that, "and move in with them. The great Albus Dumbledore comes and pays a visit as he introduces himself to me, naturally I have a lot of questions regarding my parents, so I ask, and he gladly answers, eventually he tells me about the man responsible for my parents deaths, and I ask what happened to him, you say he was sent to prison, I ask did he say why he did it during his trial, you mention that he never got a trial, so I ask if you can arrange one, because I want to ask him why he did it."

Dumbledore simply stared at Harry in a mild state of shock, "That could work." Albus continued though seemingly muttering to himself "If he was questioned under veritaserum then his name would be cleared and Pettigrew would become a wanted man."

Harry smiled, "Excellent, although we will have to be very careful about what to ask him, we don't want him revealing Pettigrew's location to the world. And he won't return to Grimmauld Place, not yet at least, so I'll have to fix up the house at Godric's Hollow."

Albus was struggling to keep up with Harry's train of thought, but nodded, "Very well Harry, when should I arrange this trial, and what do you intend to do regarding guardians?"

Harry thought about it, "As soon as possible, preferably by the end of the week. And with Sirius's name cleared, he could resume is rightful role as my legal guardian." Albus nodded, "Yes Harry, but I meant regarding your living arrangements with the Weasley's."

"Oh" Harry looked to Ginny and gave her a raised eyebrow, "I don't know Harry, I would like you to stay here for the summer, and Sirius will be in no fit state to take care of himself, let alone you, for months. So I think we should tell my parents that Dumbledore says you can stay here, providing they are happy with it."

A slightly relieved Harry nodded, before Dumbledore spoke up, "Harry, I take it you wish to be in attendance at Sirius's trial?" Both Potter's sent the man a look that clearly conveyed he was being crazy, Albus chuckled, his eyes twinkling again "Very well Harry, I shall try and arrange for it this week sometime." He paused briefly, "You mentioned fixing up your parent's house, how may I ask would you do this?"

Harry simply smiled, "I own it. Gringotts declared me a legal adult in their eyes, or rather us legal adults." Albus nodded, "Very well Harry, but you will need a guide, Molly may let you go to Diagon Alley on your own, but she will not let you go to the scene of your parent's deaths on your own."

Harry momentarily stiffened at the memory he had of it, Ginny felt him tense up, and moved her arms to hug him, she whispered in his ear, "It will be ok Harry." She felt him relax, and she moved back to snuggling in his lap.

Albus merely watched the exchange with curiosity; he smiled when Harry looked at him to speak "What about you Albus, will you be alright going to Godric's hollow?"

Albus froze, and stared down at his lap, he absentmindedly brushed the crumbs from Molly's picnic off his robes as he digested Harry's question. After several seconds he looked up with moisture in his eyes, and nodded.

Harry smiled sadly at his old friend, "Alright Albus, nine am tomorrow morning, you can come and take me to Godric's Hollow, I'll fix it up, and then we can inform Remus that your holding a trial for Sirius. When his name gets cleared the two of them will make up, I take them to Godric's hollow and fill them in."

Albus nodded at him "That sounds agreeable Harry; I trust you are aware of Remus's unfortunate condition?" Again Harry just sent him another 'you're crazy' look, Albus chuckled, "Well then I think it is time we part ways for the time being."

They all agreed and stood up with Ginny picking up the now almost empty picnic basket; it turns out the headmaster has quite the appetite, smiling at her husband, as he vanished the chairs and dropped the privacy wards with a simple wave of his wand. The three of them made their way back into the Burrows kitchen, where an anxious Molly and Arthur were still waiting, Harry felt the three youngest Weasley boys were in the living room, whilst Percy was up in his room, and the faint presence of Pettigrew was in the top bedroom.

"Molly, Arthur, may I sit down?" Albus asked the two. Molly nodded absently whilst Arthur looked at the two kids who were standing in the doorway holding hands, and standing perhaps a bit too close together. The two of them walked in and put the basket down on the side, and took chairs opposite Molly and Arthur whilst Albus took the seat at the end of the table, their hands never parting.

"It has come to my attention, that Harry no longer wishes to stay at his Aunt and Uncle's," Ginny let out a small growl at that, but Harry quickly squeezed her hand, Dumbledore carried on ignoring the noise, but giving Ginny a quick glance, "As such I must ask if you would be willing to let our young Mr Potter stay here?"

Molly was still looking at her daughter wondering what her growl was about, it took a nudge from her husband to bring her back to the conversation, "Yes of course Albus, he is more than welcome to stay here, he is sharing Ginny's room." Albus eyes were twinkling madly, as he looked across at the young couple, "Yes I'm sure they are happy with that arrangement."

Harry managed to contain his groan, and the blush that was threatening, but Ginny couldn't control her blush, to save her the embarrassment of her mother, Harry spoke deliberately laying on the emotion in his voice, four years on the Wizengamot, and you became a pretty decent actor, "The Headmaster has... agreed to take me to see my parents tomorrow." He finished quietly, and Ginny playing along gave his hand a rather obvious squeeze as she smiled sadly up at him.

Molly looked at the young boy, whose voice was cracked with emotion, she nodded, "I understand Harry, would you like me to come along as well?"

Harry was slightly shocked at her offer, but thought it did actually make sense, "No thank you Mrs Weasley, I'd rather do it by myself."

Arthur spoke up for the first time, hearing the pain in Harry's voice, "What about Ginny, would you like it if she went with you?"

Harry looked up at Mr Weasley in shock, he then glanced down at Ginny, and had to suppress the smile at how well she was acting nervous, growing up with the twins had its advantages, "Gin, would you mind coming with me? I could probably do with your support tomorrow."

Ginny peeked up at him and pulled him into a hug, she ended it too quick for Harry to get his arms round her, and sat back down blushing, Harry gave her a huge smile, "I take that as a yes then?" She looked up at him and nodded, he could see the mischief in her eyes; the blush was for her parents benefit.

Albus's eyes were twinkling like mad at the acting display in front of him, "Very well then, Harry, Ginny, I shall see you at nine o'clock tomorrow morning." At their nods he stood up and excused himself, as he was reaching the door, he turned back to Harry and said, "I will begin preparations for the other matter we discussed Harry, I would suggest you write the first letter. And a list of questions." Harry gave him a curt nod; he smiled and walked down the garden path before he Disapparated with a faint pop.

* * *

A/N – There see I can end a chapter not on a cliffhanger, I didn't want to end the chapter here, but if I continue the next stopping point would have made the chapter too long for my liking. So the visit to Godric's hollow and the trial will be the next chapter. Not sure how long it will be to get up; this one was quite quick and easy to write, so hopefully the next will be the same.


	11. C 10 : Renovations

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Sorry sorry sorry, my life has been insane and crazy, in the past 6 weeks, or rather more insane and crazy. In addition, work has been tiring and annoying, but alas my work is almost at an end, and I have been getting used to the hours, so have been getting a bit of writing done in the evenings. Again, my sincere apologies for taking soooooo long to update, I hope you feel it has been worth the wait, enjoy.

* * *

**Renovations**

Mr and Mrs Weasley were just staring at the spot where Dumbledore disapparated, it took Ginny coughing to get their attention. Mrs Weasley spoke first, "Harry dear, do you mind if we ask you a couple of questions?"

Harry reluctantly nodded, "Go ahead, although I can't guarantee I will answer, I will promise not to lie."

Mr Weasley furrowed his brow in confusion, "What is this other matter he spoke of?"

Harry smiled inwardly, he could answer that one "He is setting up a trial for Sirius Black. I want to ask him why he betrayed my parents. As for the letter he asked me to write, he told me about one of my father's childhood friends."

Mr Weasley nodded in acceptance of that, although he was not comfortable with an eleven-year-old boy being at the trial of a mass murderer, but he could already see he was far from normal, and he had only known the boy less than a day. His wife speaking interrupted his musings, "Harry dear, before you left, you said something was an exercise in futility, what did you mean, and why did the headmaster almost collapse in his chair afterwards?"

Harry sighed, and quickly dipped into his mind, to have time to come up with an answer, after several minutes he dropped out again, barely a split second passed outside, "I felt something pressing against my mind, coming from the headmaster, but I was able to block him. Mr Ollivander tried the same thing to me yesterday; he said I had the best shields he had ever seen. I was hoping to go back to the alley and see if I can find a book on mind shields." It was stretching the truth to almost breaking point, but it was the only way Harry could see, that could get the elder Weasleys off his back.

Mr Weasley nodded in acceptance having heard something about the defence of the mind from the old order meetings. Mrs Weasley on the other hand was not concentrating on that at all, she was livid at Dumbledore for trying to probe the mind of a young boy, "Albus attempted to what, read your mind?"

Harry nodded, "I think so. I think he was just trying to find out why I never wanted to go back to the Dursleys." Harry could see that she would not let it go, so spoke again, "Mrs Weasley, I have already given him a yelling at for doing it, as has Ginny." Harry smiled at his wife, "He won't be doing it to me again. Now if you have no more questions, I would like to make a start on some reading."

Harry stood up and pulled Ginny along with him, the Weasleys were somewhat shocked at Harry's abrupt departure, but they could think of no more questions, so Arthur headed off to work almost an hour late, he kissed his wife goodbye and stepped over to the floo.

Harry felt the magical pulse of the floo from their bedroom, he had asked Ron and the others to join them, but when he said he would be starting to read the textbooks Ron just shuddered at the thought and went back to their game of exploding snap. Harry knew he would have to come up with a way of getting Ron to start on schoolwork.

Harry was sitting up on Ginny's bed, with all of the first year textbooks laid out in front of him, as he pretended to take notes on them, whilst Ginny read through some of the Quidditch history books he picked up, he had re-set the intruder charm in the hall, and had placed the muffliato around them.

"Gin how's this?" Harry handed over the piece of parchment he had been writing on, Ginny took it and after reading it through twice, she smiled at Harry, and said, "I think it's perfect." Harry smiled, and rechecked the letter before he signed it.

_Dear Moony_

_I expect you are wondering where I know that name from, I think it is best if I not tell you through a letter, but I will say this, I can go by Pronglet.  
The Head Fire-Bird is calling a trial for Padfoot, as he is innocent. Yes, I know your doubts but believe me when I say he is not guilty of any crimes, well at least not since his Marauder days.  
Wormtail was the traitor, he and Padfoot made a secret switch with Prongs, so that Padfoot could be a decoy. Padfoot figured it out after their deaths, and went after Wormtail, he found him, but Wormtail framed Padfoot and escaped.  
I will gladly explain all of this and more in detail to the both of you, when his name is cleared, in the meantime, stay safe and out of trouble._

_From_  
_Spikey_

Harry folded up the parchment, and levitated the quill to write Remus Lupin in straight block letters, so that no one would be able to recognise the hand writing, he then sealed it so only Remus could open it. After sealing it he walked over to the windowsill where Hedwig was resting, having arrived when they were having breakfast, he stroked the feathers behind her ear, and said, "Hey girl, you feel up to a delivery?" The owl just gave him a blank stare, he chuckled softly "Right, stupid question." He tied the letter to her leg, and watched her fly out the window.

* * *

Everyone was sitting around the breakfast table, having just finished eating, when Harry felt the headmaster appear, he looked up to door, and Ginny followed his gaze.

Albus walked into the Burrow's kitchen, and saw Harry and Ginny already on their feet in muggle clothes ready to leave, "Good morning, Harry, Ginny, everyone. I trust you are both ready?" at their nods, he turned around and the two Potters followed him out.

Once they were out of sight and hearing, of the kitchen Harry spoke up, "Albus, do you own any muggle clothes?" Harry said as he eyed the headmaster's bright purple robes, with magenta moons and stars on them. Ginny was laughing so hard at his comment that Harry was having to hold her up, Albus merely frowned at Harry, who whilst smiling innocently at him, flicked his wand out, and transfigured the headmaster's robes into a plain black suit and tie, with purple shirt, and magenta socks.

Albus scowled at the smiling young wizard, and was about to respond when Harry spoke, "Right then, now that Albus is presentable, let's go." Harry pulled Ginny's still laughing form closer to his chest, and reached out and grabbed Albus's hand, and silently apparated them all to Godric's Hollow.

As soon as they arrived almost directly opposite the house, Albus let out a gasp, Harry looked up at him, "You haven't come to see it before have you?" he asked quietly, the old wizard just shook his head slowly, moisture building up in the corner of his eyes.

Harry looked toward the house, and flicked his wand out; he took a deep breath and put up a new muggle repelling charm, before shattering the old one, and the remnants of the wards that were still lingering. With the muggle shield in place, Harry set to work; he cleared the overgrown hedges and the tangle of nettles and vines in the front garden with a simple flick of his wand. He repaired the damage to the nursery with a concentrated and powerful reparo; the broken bits of wood and glass were flying through the air to re-cover the hole in the right side of the house.

Satisfied the repair was finished; Harry quickly gave the whole house a new coat of paint, before he removed the remembrance sign and banished it to the wall above the fireplace in the living room. With that done, he took a deep breath, and made to walk down the path, only to find Ginny's hand on his shoulder, "Do you want me to come in with you?"

Harry gave her a sad smile, and a hug, "I'll be ok." He kissed the top of her head, and walked down the path to the house.

* * *

Harry, Ginny and Ron were sitting in the living room of the Burrow on Thursday afternoon; Ron was reading his first year charms book. After Harry had successfully used a _Wingardium Leviosa _to prank the twins with a bucket of ice-cold water, Ron suddenly realised that studying during the summer was not a bad idea. When he had come calling on the couple an hour or so after the prank, Harry and Ginny shared a knowing look, thinking about how Hermione would react.

Harry was supposedly reading his transfiguration textbook, but in actuality, he was thinking about how to phrase the questions to Sirius in the trial. The more he thought about it, the more things he could foresee going wrong, Ginny was trying to keep him reassured before Ron joined them, but the truth is she was worried as well.

Harry's head snapped to the door as he felt Albus arrive, he sighed and stood up, Ron looked up from his book and asked "Where you going?"

Harry looked down at his friend and figured the truth wouldn't hurt, at least this time. "Dumbledore is here, most likely to talk to me about the trial of my godfather."

Ron's mouth opened and closed a couple of times as he tried to work out what to ask first, eventually he was saved the trouble of working it out as Mrs Weasley called from the kitchen for Harry.

As Harry walked into the kitchen, he saw Albus had no twinkle in his eyes, "Whats happened?" Harry asked.

Albus spoke, "The trial will be at 10am tomorrow morning." he sighed before continuing, "It would seem that with a formal trial, if found guilty, then Siri-Mr Black would be immediately given the Dementor's kiss."

Albus's eyes bugged out of their sockets when Harrys aura flared from his anger. Harry quickly got his aura under control; the elder Weasleys were staring at him in shock, wondering what that was about. Harry quickly came up with an answer "Sorry about that, but I've done a little reading on Dementor's and even if he was responsible for the death of my parents, having ones soul sucked out… is not something i would wish upon even Voldemort."

Both the Weasleys had looks of horror on their faces as Harry explained what a Dementor did, and flinched at Voldemort's name. Dumbledore gave a small smile to the young wizard, "Well then Harry, do you have any questions for me, I still have a few things to prepare for tomorrow."

"Actually yes Chief Warlock I do." Harry took a deep breath, brought himself up to his full, although still rather short height, and spoke "As it was my parents this man has apparently betrayed to their deaths, I am using my right as the sole family member remaining, to question him during the trial."

There was a small gasp from behind Harry, which he knew to be from Ginny, he did not turn around, but did reach for her hand when she sat down next to him. Albus blinked slowly at Harry's request, he had been expecting Harry to give him a list of questions not demand to ask them himself. "I see Harry; that is unorthodox. The law of family is rarely used, but it is quite clear in this regard, so I will see to it the arrangements are made; you will need formal robes for the occasion, with your family crest on them."

Harry nodded, "I already have some." Albus smiled at him, "Very well then. I'm afraid that my duties will prevent me from escorting you to the trial."

Mr Weasley spoke up, "That's fine Headmaster I'll take the day off work, and escort him myself."

Ginny shot her father a glare, "I'm going with Harry." Her voice had such a tone of finality about it that Arthur did not question it, he just sighed and nodded, "Very well Ginny, if you are coming, we may as well all go; the boys will only get upset if we don't."

Ginny looked over at Harry to find him staring at a spot on the table, Ginny knew he was thinking about seeing Sirius again but she could not say or do anything to comfort him here. She stood up, and half-dragged Harry out of the house into the orchard, "Harry I can't cast the privacy words."

Harry did not even move from staring at a spot on the ground, but Ginny felt the extremely faint magical signature of the privacy wards, confused she looked around and saw the air shimmering with the concealment spells. She looked at Harry in shock; he had cast all of the privacy wards without even moving, she remembered that she had seen him do quite a few things without seeming to move recently, she would need to ask him about that in a few days, or more likely weeks.

Ginny took a deep breath, "Harry…" she sighed, she would have to bring up _that_ night, 'This should be a fun conversation' she thought to herself somewhat bitterly. "Harry, while I obviously wasn't as close to him as you were, it's going to be difficult for _me_ to see him tomorrow" she sighed again, finally realising why he was in such a bad way, "It's going to be very difficult to see them _both_ tomorrow, so I can't imagine what you must be going through. It was not your fault Harry." His eyes snapped up to meet hers and she could see the emotions warring behind them, she knew she had to tread very carefully here, "I know it's true, and deep down you do as well. Please, don't do this to me, you are going to have to stand up there tomorrow in front of everyone, and be _THE _Harry Potter. If you're wallowing in grief and self-pity then the trial might fail." Ginny knew that was perhaps a low blow, but she had learnt after the war that if Harry really got going into a depressive spiral, it was not a pretty sight, for anyone.

She said nothing more as she watched the emotions go across Harry's face, after a few minutes he sank down to the grass, she followed him, still not letting go of his hand. After a few more minutes, she saw him take a deep breath and exhale it very slowly, he looked up to meet her eyes, and she saw the pain and sadness was still there, but there was also a determination to be stronger than his emotions.

Ginny gave him a small smile, "I always thought the sorting hat was barmy for wanting to put you in Slytherin." Harry gave a small chuckle, "You are the truest Gryffindor Harry." He reached over to pull her to himself, Ginny, expecting a hug straddled his lap, he surprised her by giving her the most intense kiss they had shared since they came back.

* * *

Harry stepped out of the floo to join Mr Weasley, his formal robes were billowing around him ever so slightly, as he kept his aura not completely suppressed. Once the others had all arrived, Ginny came up to Harry's side and took his hand as they walked to the security station, after all the wands had been registered, they took the lifts down to level nine. Harry felt a pang of sadness in his heart at seeing the door to the Department of Mysteries; Ginny sensed his distress and gave his hand a little squeeze, which Harry returned.

When they reached the door to the courtroom, Harry stopped and turned to face everyone, "You guys go in ahead, I need to make an entrance." The twins looked at Harry with something approaching awe, Ron looked puzzled and Ginny was trying not to laugh. Before Mr Weasley could speak, Harry carried on, "This is the _Boy-Who-Lived's_ first public appearance in the wizarding world, and as much as I truly hate the title and the fame." He sighed, "I _need_ to make a big entrance."

Arthur stuck out his hand, which Harry shook, "Good luck Harry, remember to keep your cool, and don't lose your temper." Harry smiled at him and nodded, he quickly took a deep breath before being engulfed in a Mrs Weasley hug, "Be careful dear, and listen to Arthur; hold your temper."

Ron gave him a quick nod and a handshake; the twins gave him a pat on the back. Ginny came up and gave him a hug, which he happily returned; when she pulled back Harry saw in her eyes what she was about to do and shook his head ever so slightly, but she ignored him, and kissed his cheek. Harry did not fight the blush that crept up his face, and nor did Ginny, the twins made gagging sounds, Ron looked very thoughtful, Molly simply beamed at them, and Arthur seemed to be studying Harry very closely. When Ginny turned round to face her family, she glared at the twins, and Arthur seeing that an argument was brewing quickly led his family into the courtroom with a final look and small nod to Harry.

After a few minutes of waiting Harry felt the two Dementor's enter with what he assumed was Sirius, he took a deep breath, centered himself to reinforce his occlumency shields, straightened out his robes, made sure his aura was only slightly showing, and entered.

He pushed the doors open with just a thought, and strode purposefully into the courtroom, the murmurings caused by Sirius's entrance stopped immediately, Harry could feel every single set of eyes on him, but he kept his eyes forward and strode right up to the chair were Sirius was chained, with the two Dementor's flanking him.

Sirius had been dragged from his cell at Azkaban into the transport boat at five in the morning, he had no clue what was going on, until he found himself being dragged into a courtroom by the two Dementor's that had accompanied him, 'huh, a trial? After all these years.' a tiny glimmer of hope sparked inside the old marauder, as he sat down in the chair.

He heard the doors slam open, and felt someone enter, the person walked right into the middle of the courtroom and stopped in front of him, the confused Sirius felt the man's aura, and went to look up at him, expecting to find an Auror or someone similar, instead he found himself face to face with his deceased best-friend's twin.

Sirius was about to try and speak for the first time in ten years to say 'James' but realised before he opened his mouth, that the boy in front of him wasn't his best mate. Sirius leaned forwards ever so slightly to look at him, seeing the startlingly green eyes, which were almost glowing with a faint sense of power, he took a shaky breath, "H… Ha… Harry?"

* * *

A/N - MWAHAHAHAHA *denies being evil*

The next chapter will be called - _Justice, and it's Repercussions_


	12. C 11 : Justice, and its Repercussions

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – It is getting harder and harder to find the time to write, so I apologise for that, but I'm afraid it is out of my control. This has been a right pain to write, but I hope I have done it well, enjoy.

* * *

**Justice, and its Repercussions**

Harry stared down at his godfather a dozen different emotions warring within him, each fighting for control; he suppressed them all; he had a job to do. Ignoring the Dementor's presence, and providing Sirius with a small warming charm, Harry started a legilimency conversation with him, 'here goes nothing.' _"Sirius, don't react, just blink twice if you can hear me."_

Sirius just sat there too stunned to do anything; his godson had just pushed a thought into his head, and seemed to know him, not really having another option he dutifully blinked twice. The 'kid' in front of him gave a small twitch of his mouth, as if hiding a smile, and pushed another thought into his head, _"I know the truth Padfoot. Play along with everything I do, and do not worry about the Dementor's I will be able to get rid of them soon. Oh and no matter what happens DO NOT under any circumstances reveal Wormtail's animagus status."_

Sirius's eyes almost bugged out of his head, he blinked slowly _"Do we have an understanding? Blink three times if yes, oh and if my plan to clean up wizarding Britain doesn't work, I may need you to emancipate me, you'll know when, if its needed."_

It took all of Sirius's rather small level of self-control, to refrain from blurting out questions, taking a deep shaky breath; he blinked the requested three times.

_"Showtime"_ Harry thought to Sirius before clearing his throat quietly, even with the whispers that had started after Harry's entrance it could still be heard, and the courtroom silenced immediately.

"Sirius Orion Black, on the charge of betraying my parent's location to Lord Voldemort-" Harry rolled his eyes at the collective intake of breath and shuddering that went through practically everyone in the room, "How do you plead?"

Sirius sat up as straight as he could, and stared Harry right in the eyes, "I plead not guilty."

The uproar from Sirius's words was deafening, but Harry just stood there calmly, and slowly raised his left hand above his head, as he did the noise level got quieter and quieter until it became silent just as Harry's hand stopped moving.

Harry saw Sirius's eyes widen, and when he snuck a glance back at the Wizengamot he was surprised that people were not being blinded by the twinkle in Albus's eyes.

Hiding a smirk, and pretending that the uproar hadn't occurred, Harry asked his next question, "On the charge of murdering Peter Pettigrew and killing twelve innocent muggles with a single curse, how do you plead?"

Sirius spoke in a voice that carried across the entire courtroom, "I plead not guilty."

The noise from the people was so loud that not even Dumbledore's noisemaker charm could bring order back to the courtroom. Harry sighed at the heckling and shouting coming not just from the crowd but the Wizengamot members as well, 'and these people rule our country' Harry thought as he shook his head sadly.

He built up a surge of magic and released it whilst bellowing "**Silence!**"

The pulse of magic had the desired effect of silencing everyone, it also had the unintended although very welcomed side effect of dumping them back into their seats, and sending the two Dementor's scurrying away in fear.

Everyone in the room, just stared at Harry, as the torches around the room flickered back into life whilst the magic swirling around Harry quickly stilled, although Harry did keep his robes billowing around him a bit more than was necessary.

"This man has declared his innocence, and you haven't even given him a chance to explain or defend himself! This man was thrown straight into hell on earth without so much as a questioning let alone a trial!" Harry made sure to flicker the torches and magically project his voice when he spoke.

Harry noted with satisfaction that there were more than a couple of people sitting in the Wizengamot with ashamed looks on their faces. Turning round to face the crowd, he saw that only a small percentage were looking guilty at their outburst, he did notice with pride that Mr and Mrs Weasley were sitting there with disappointed looks on their faces, from the smile on Ginny's face he knew it was for the crowd's reaction. Harry also spotted Lucius Malfoy sitting in the lower seats towards the back of the crowd with an odd look on his face that Harry could not quite place.

He was roused from his musings about the senior Malfoy by Dumbledore clearing his throat loudly, "Bring in the truth serum for the questioning."

A young man Harry vaguely recognised as an Auror that died during the war came forward to administer the veritaserum to Sirius, before he could pour the clear liquid down Sirius's throat Harry spoke up, "Four drops."

The Auror looked at him, it pained Harry that there was small look of fear on the Auror's face, hiding his discomfort of the man being afraid of him, Harry continued. "This man has survived ten years in hell on earth, and seems to be reasonably sane-" Harry heard Sirius's faint huff of annoyance but ignored it, "as such, I want four drops administered, so there can be no doubt that he speaks the truth."

Muted whispers started around the courtroom at Harry's request, the Auror looked at him with wide eyes, before glancing up to where Harry knew Albus and Madam Bones were sitting. He could feel them nod, which surprised him as he could never feel people in that detail before, but put that thought aside for later as Sirius's eyes glazed over from the potion.

Harry began the questioning, "State your name."

"Sirius Orion Black." Harry nodded, agreeing that the potion was working; he just hoped Sirius had enough strength of will to hold back about the rat.

"Do you know who I am?" Harry asked, ignoring the couple of murmurs that were starting at his method of questioning.

"Harry James Potter." Sirius replied in the emotionless monotone induced by the truth serum.

"Ok, first question. Did you betray James and Lily Potter's location to Voldemort?" Harry shot a glare at the Wizengamot members who shuddered at the Dark Lord's name.

"No" came the monotonous reply.

Some of the people in the courtroom who were clearly not sorted into Ravenclaw, started to protest that he was lying, so Harry decided to make an example of a few of them, he took great pleasure in noticing that one of the more vocal ones was sitting just to the right of the Minister for Magic.

Harry projected his voice to silence everyone, "Madam Undersecretary, could you please inform me how an individual can lie whilst under the influence of four drops of Veritaserum?"

Harry watched as the woman who had once tried to crucio him, struggled to articulate any words; eventually she managed to get a sentence out with an air of smug superiority "He is clearly using some form of unknown dark magic."

Harry's wand hand twitched, as he had to fight the urge to curse the toad into oblivion; instead, he kept up his clam facade and raised an eyebrow, "If he had knowledge of such powerful dark magic, why did he not escape Azkaban?"

He supressed a smile when he saw several members give small nods of approval in his direction, and watched as Umbridge stuttered over mumbled half-sentences. Deciding to press home his advantage Harry continued, "Is your refusal to believe Mr Black's testimony because you believe the Ministry can do no wrong? Or is it because you do not want to admit to even the possibility that your boss has made a _huge _mistake by sending an _Innocent _man to _Azkaban. _Without. A. Trial!" Harry gave the torches a flicker as he finished his sentence; he knew he would probably get a telling off from Ginny later for being overly dramatic, but if it works.

Umbridge just sat there doing a goldfish impression whilst Fudge had gone silent and very pale. After over a minute of silence, Umbridge finally managed to speak again, "You believe this man to be innocent!" she shrieked in a near hysterical tone.

Harry slowly turned back to face Sirius and locked eyes with him. After almost a minute of the staring match between emerald green and glossed over grey, Harry closed his eyes.

Keeping his eyes closed as he turned back round to face Umbridge, Harry snapped his eyes open and pinned her with a glare that would rival a Basilisk's, "Yes, I do."

Stunned silence met Harry's declaration, he had rendered Umbridge speechless, and the little colour left in Fudge's face drained out. Harry could almost feel Ginny struggling to hold in laughter.

Dumbledore decided that it would be wise to continue before Fudge or Umbridge did something even more stupid, "Mr Potter, please continue with your questioning of Sirius Black. The other matters you have raised shall be discussed at a later time."

Harry gave a nod to Dumbledore and turned back to Sirius, "Sirius Black, who was the Potter's secret keeper?"

"Peter Pettigrew." Sirius's answer and Harry's declaration had rendered the entire courtroom silent, but for the sound of scratching quills.

Harry gave a small nod, "Why is everyone under the impression that _you_ were the Potter's secret keeper?"

"Because that is what we told everyone; no one, other than the four of us knew of the switch, not Dumbledore or our other best friend." Harry could notice the remorse in Sirius's tone, even with the haze of the truth serum clouding it.

Harry continued with still the only sound being the scratch of quills, "By the four of you, I am assuming you mean James and Lily Potter, yourself and Peter Pettigrew?"

"Yes."

Harry nodded again, whilst extremely hushed whispers started up; ignoring them, Harry carried on with the questions, "This other friend you spoke of is one Remus Lupin, correct?"

"Yes."

"From your perspective what happened on the night of the 31st of October 1981?" The courtroom waited with baited breath to hear what happened.

"I hadn't heard from Peter for a couple of days so I went to check on him, when i got to where he was staying, he wasn't there. I feared the worst and went to Godric's Hollow, by the time I got there, your parents were dead, and Hagrid was already carrying you out of the rubble. I begged him to let me take you, but he said no, you had to go to your relatives-"

Harry closed his eyes, and fought the bile in his throat, if only Hagrid had listened to the man in front of him, how different would his life have been.

Ginny saw Harry close his eyes and she desperately wanted to go up and hug him, she was fidgeting in her seat so much, that Mrs Weasley had to put a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"I let Hagrid leave, and went after Peter." Harry's breath caught in his throat, this was the moment when Sirius could unravel all his plans.

"I caught up with him in a muggle street, he saw that I had found him, and shouted to everyone that I had betrayed James and Lily, then he sliced off his finger and destroyed the street with a blasting hex from the wand he had hidden behind his back. In… In the confusion from the blast he escaped."

The entire place was deathly silent at Sirius's answer, as they began to digest the truth of the matter, Harry wanted to let it go on for a few minutes, but the Toad had other ideas.

"Hem-Hem." Harry barely repressed the shudder that ran down his spine as he thought of how much that woman had done and not done whilst at Hogwarts, and then during the War on that so-called committee.

Harry saw red, he shot her a glare that made many of the Wizengamot flinch, he spoke in an ice-cold voice that would make even Bellatrix Lestrange pause, "Madam Undersecretary, what more can you possibly have to say that isn't either a lie or an insult?"

Hearing the tone, and seeing the look in Harry's eyes, many of the Wizengamot started to question the sanity of the Minister's closest aide when she replied to him, "Mr Potter, I do believe that you are allowing your personal feelings to interfere with the course of justice, this man is clearly a death eater and is manipulating you to suit his own ends."

The cries of outrage from the crowd were almost deafening; Harry heard Ginny shouting, "Shut up you evil old Hag." He also heard his honorary uncle yelling, "That's a lie!" He saw that most of the Wizengamot had started shifting away from the Undersecretary, and Harry noted that even the Minister seemed to be trying to put a bit of distance between them.

Harry didn't bother with making it gradual this time round, and just flung his left hand in the air, silencing the courtroom instantly, and causing the toad's eyes to widen ever so slightly.

Harry was barely suppressing his rage, as he itched to curse the woman, "Madam Umbridge-" even Dumbledore gave a small shudder at the venom that laced Harry's voice, "Why are you trying to prevent the course of justice? Why are you trying to stop an innocent man from going free? Why is this Ministry so bent and corrupt that one of its top people can completely disregard the law in front of the entire governing body!" He paused to take a breath, "And lastly-" The temperature in the room plummeted as Harry focused his rage on the woman, "Why are you trying to rob me of the only family I have left?"

Harry's silencing charm was not needed as everyone stared at the Boy-who-lived in shock; even the reporters had stopped scratching their quills.

It was a full three minutes of stunned silence before Umbridge regained the power of speech, her voice was rather steady but even the crowd could see that she was struggling to make it so, "You accuse the M…Ministry of being cor…rupt, Mr Potter?"

Harry's answer spoke volumes to the assembled witches and wizards, "If the Ministry can allow an _innocent _person to be thrown into Azkaban _without a trial_; how are _we_, the people of Britain, meant to know if the _guilty_ do not walk among us?" There were several gasps at that, and Harry could feel Malfoy's eyes boring into the back of his head, but he wasn't finished yet, "How are we supposed to know that there are no guilty persons in this very room, sitting on these very benches in front of me. The benches that are supposed to seat the pillars of our society, the very bedrock of our world, seats that should have members that are just, members that are true and members that are held accountable to the same laws as the rest of us!"

Several seconds after Harry practically shouted the last part out, Remus Lupin stood up and started clapping, a few seconds later, the entire Weasley family stood up, led by Ginny and Arthur. Within less than a minute, nearly everyone in the crowd was giving Harry Potter a standing ovation.

After five minutes of applause everyone began to settle down again, Dumbledore cleared his throat, "A rousing speech Mr Potter; rest assured Madam Umbridge will be _fully_ investigated after this trial's end."

"What about the other members of the Wizengamot, what about the department heads in the ministry, what about the Minister himself? How do we know that these people are doing their jobs probably and not doing what the people with the most gold tell them to do?" Harry asked, with his eyes locked onto the Ministers, whose face paled even further than it had earlier, so much so that he now possessed the skin complexion a ghost.

"Very good questions Mr Potter." Harry was surprised to see the voice come not from Dumbledore, but from Amelia Bones.

Harry gave her a curt nod "Thank you Madam Bones. But as the Chief Warlock mentioned, these are matters that _will_ be brought up after the matter of Sirius Black is decided."

Madam Bones gave Harry a small smile and a quick nod, before turning her attention to Dumbledore, "Well Chief Warlock, as head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement I can see no further issues preventing Sirius Black from being released, shall we vote?"

Dumbledore nodded, and turned his attention back to the floor, "Assembled members of the Wizengamot, you have heard the testimony of one Sirius Orion Black, whose fate we shall now decide. All those in favour of clearing Sirius Black of all charges?" Harry let out a breath of relief when over eighty per cent raised their hands. "Those in favour of conviction?"

Harry was intrigued to spot that Fudge voted for clearing of all Charges, 'probably trying to save his career' Harry thought to himself.

"Very well, by a majority of 41 to 12, Sirius Orion Black is hereby given a full pardon, and released from Azkaban prison, he will also be compensated at three times the Auror pay-grade for each month he has endured without justice." Dumbledore banged his gavel down as he finished speaking.

Harry smiled for the first time since he arrived, as he walked over to the smiling Sirius Black, he stood up from his now chain free chair, and engulfed Harry in a hug, a hug that Harry happily returned. Sirius whispered in Harry's ear, "We have a lot to talk about Harry."

Harry nodded and pulled back, he turned to face the Wizengamot again to see that Dumbledore and Madam Bones were deep in discussion; he cleared his throat loudly, Dumbledore turned to face him, "We were just discussing what to do about the points you raised Mr Potter."

Harry nodded, "I understand Chief Warlock, but I wish to ask another question regarding the matter of Sirius Black before we move on."

Murmurs broke out around the chamber as Dumbledore eyed Harry curiously, "Go ahead Mr Potter."

"Where is his wand?" Harry asked his eyes locked with Dumbledore's, who gave a small frown, he was about to reply when Madam Bones interrupted him, "Sirius Black's wand was snapped upon his arrest Mr Potter, its pieces reside in the evidence vault."

Harry nodded at that, "I would like it retrieved please." Madam Bones's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline as she thought about that, before looking to one of the Auror guards, "Auror Shacklebolt, please retrieve Mr Black's wand."

Harry watched as Kingsley nodded before leaving through the back door, he turned his attention back to Amelia, "Madam Bones, if Sirius's wand was recovered, why was it never checked for the blasting hex that destroyed that street? Surely that should be standard Auror protocol upon arriving at a crime scene?"

To her credit the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement didn't splutter or stumble over her words, but she did raise a questioning eyebrow, "You make an excellent point Mr Potter, and I will introduce such a policy at the next staff meeting, we shall also go over the entire Auror protocol handbook, so we may prevent any misscarriages of justice from occurring in the future."

Harry gave her a small smile and a nod, as Kingsley came back into the courtroom holding a small card box. He walked purposefully over to Harry, and handed him the box, Harry nodded and thanked him before opening it. He took the two pieces of wand out, and then passed the empty box back to the Auror, who accepted it, and backed away to his previous position.

Harry was planning on giving it to Sirius and mending it at home, but he figured after the Toad's display that the public needed to see he was more than just the Boy-who-lived.

He gripped the two parts of the wand in his hands, as he lined them up; he pushed his magic through his hands into the wand, causing it to glow a brilliant white, after a few seconds the glow stopped, and Harry opened his hands to see Sirius's original wand, intact.

He turned to face Sirius who was staring at him in shock, as was everyone in the courtroom; the only face not showing as much surprise as the others was Ginny's.

Harry presented the repaired want to Sirius, who snapped out of his shock to grasp it firmly, Harry could feel the reconnection between the wand and its master, as he saw Sirius break out into a huge smile. He turned the wand on himself and after muttering some words and a few flicks and jabs, Sirius stood clean-shaven with a messy haircut, in grey robes, transfigured from his prison clothes.

Harry smiled at his godfather, "Much better." Sirius grinned at him, before a voice from behind, made him spin round, "Padfoot?"

Harry saw Remus Lupin standing at the edge of the floor area, looking at Sirius with a spark of hope in his eyes, Harry looked over his robes, and noted that he would be buying Remus an entire wardrobe when this was over.

"Moony?" Remus gave his fellow marauder a nod, moisture building up in both of their eyes, the two of them engulfed each other in a hug. The sight of the two of them, happily reuniting brought moisture to Harry's eyes as well, he quickly dried them, before walking over to them.

"Ah Pronglet." Remus addressed Harry with a knowing look in his eyes, Harry gave the man a smile and a subtle nod, "Yep, nice to meet you Remus." Harry stuck out his hand, but his old professor simple pushed it aside and hugged him.

When they parted, Harry gestured for the two of them to take seats back in the crowd, after they did he turned back to the Wizengamot. "Chief Warlock, I assume you and Madam Bones have reached a decision regarding the blatant corruption at the heart of the ministry?"

Harry hid a smirk when he saw the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes start up again, and had to refrain from laughing when Madam Bones raised her eyebrow again. Dumbledore spoke though, "Yes Mr Potter we have. All Ministry department heads, and members of the Wizengamot will submit to questioning under Veritaserum regarding allegations of corruption."

The crowd started cheering at this, whilst many of the Wizengamot paled, when an elderly witch stood up, Harry gave a small jolt when he recognised Neville's grandmother, "I will willingly submit to this questioning, I have nothing to hide, and would like to put forth the motion that every employee of the Ministry be questioned about corruption on a regular basis."

Her statement was met with more cheering from the crowd, and Harry gave the witch a smile and a nod of thanks, as she sat down, this was when Fudge's patience finally ran out, "That is enough of this-"

Before the Minister could continue, Harry interrupted him "Whats the matter Cornelius, not been taking bribes from Death Eaters have you?"

Harry's question instantly silenced the crowd, as they all stared at the Minister, who started sweating and mumbling, before he could speak, Harry sensed Lucius Malfoy moving towards the door, recognising an opportunity to get the Death Eater and his associates off the streets, Harry spun round and shouted out, "Going somewhere Lucius?"

Every eye suddenly followed Harry's gaze to find the blond Death Eater, frozen in mid step, his eyes locked on the emerald green orbs of Harry Potter.

Lucius could not see a way out of this, Fudge would reveal his bribes and he would be arrested and questioned, after questioning, he would be lucky to be thrown in Azkaban.

He drew his feet level, as he stared at Potter, taking a deep breath, and hoping that he could make it to the door first, he pulled his wand out of his cane, and waving it across the courtroom he gathered everything he could and bellowed out.

"**Maledictio Incendium!**"

Harry's eyes widened to the size of saucers, he didn't think Lucius was that crazy, before anyone else had even reacted, Harry had his wand out, and was reaching out with his magic trying to gather the Fiendfyre together.

Harry managed to wrap his magic around the cursed flames, before they could to any damage, but Lucius was still pouring all he had into them, as they grew larger and larger, Harry began to sweat as the power of the flames started seeping through his magic.

After several seconds Lucius let go and tried to make it to the door only to be stopped by a ferocious stunner that slammed him into the far wall, everyone looked around to see where it came from, eventually they saw Mrs Weasley holding her wand the wrong way round, whilst staring at her daughter standing innocently beside her.

Harry saw Lucius release his control over the fire, and felt the pulse of the stunner that brought him down. Harry focused himself, tuning out the sounds around him as he slowly started to bring his magic in, attempting to smoother the flames.

After almost a minute, his wand arm was shaking and his robes were soaked through with sweat, not even Dumbledore had tried to interfere knowing it would be far worse if he did. Harry collapsed onto one knee from the effort, he summoned up more magic to re-enforce his shield around the flames, as he continued to draw them in, shrinking them down. The more he shrunk them though, the more violent they became.

Harry started to feel exhausted, he knew he wouldn't be able to maintain control for much longer, that was when he heard it, the faint trill of phoenix song, and a lone voice shouting out for all it was worth, "COME ON HARRY!"

Taking a deep shaky breath, Harry gathered up more magic, and forced it out with an unarticulated scream, as his magic finally crushed the Fiendfyre into nothingness.

Harry's other leg finally gave out and he collapsed onto his knees, his last conscious thought was of seeing a black haired man kneeling beside him, as a small red head was running straight for him, he smiled a tired smile before collapsing into blackness.

* * *

A/N – See I'm not evil. The next chapter will be called _The Summer_.


	13. C 12 : The Summer of Changes

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Writing time has been very difficult to find these past few months and this has been a difficult chapter to write, it is the longest one yet so I hope you like it. Enjoy.

* * *

**The Summer of Changes**

As Harry slowly began to wake up he realised he was in a bed, 'Hmm probably St. Mungo's', he felt Ginny sleeping in the chair next to him and gave a small smile, he also felt Sirius and Remus asleep in two chairs on the opposite wall, sitting quite close together. He frowned when he recognised the presence of three Aurors out in the hallway, 'they had best be there for my protection' Harry thought to himself somewhat angrily.

He frowned again when he sensed another magical presence in the room, one that was not human. He managed to open his eyes partially, only to be blinded by the white light of the room, he held back a moan, and darkened the room with a gesture of his hand. He opened his eyes again, blinking a few times to get used to the low light; he then turned to face the other presence in the room, and froze.

There sitting on his bedside table, was a creature he hadn't seen or heard from for five years, a bright red bird with gold plumage and jet black eyes staring straight at him, Harry breathed out "Fawkes."

_"Greetings young one, it is good to see you awake at last."_

Harry's eyes widened in shock, he knew that the voice belonged to the swan-sized phoenix in front of him, but he was shocked at how the bird had talked to him seemingly in his mind, with everyone else in the room asleep Harry tried to think back, _"Erm, Hi?"_

Fawkes gave a soft trill of amusement, _"You learn quickly young one."_

Harry blinked heavily, _"Ok. Can Albus talk to you like this?"_

Fawkes just gave him a blank stare, _"He wishes. No young one, I can only converse with a true Master of Death."_ Upon seeing Harry's eyes widen, Fawkes gave another soft trill of amusement, _"Yes young friend, I can sense the mastery of death that surrounds you; I can also sense Time's gift on you and your mate, as well as your phoenix nature, although you seem to have not embraced it fully."_

Harry just lay there doing a passable goldfish impression; he was so absorbed that he did not sense Ginny waking up beside him. "Harry?"

Harry turned to her at the sound of her voice, and gave her a smile; he frowned when he saw the bags under her eyes, and the state her hair was in; He put up a muffliato around them before speaking. "Gin-" that was as far as he got before she launched herself at him, hugging the life out of him. Before Harry could get his arms around her, she leaned back and started attacking every inch of him that she could reach.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! DON'T YOU EV-" Ginny could not get any further before Harry silenced her with a kiss, whilst throwing a ward or five at the door, and around the room.

Ginny's shout had awakened Sirius and Remus, who were both a little shocked at seeing the 11 and 10 year olds snogging on the bed. Sirius cleared his throat loudly.

Harry and Ginny pulled apart slowly with Harry staring into her eyes, completely ignoring the others in the room, "I'm sorry for worrying you Gin, but you know I had no choice, if I didn't stop it then-", this time is was Ginny's turn to silence Harry with a kiss.

When she pulled back, she leaned over and embraced him whispering in his ear, "I know."

Harry smiled and returned the hug, this time both Sirius and Remus coughed loudly; he just smiled as he waved his hand and threw up a few more wards to secure the room, both the adults felt them go up, and were staring at the young wizard in even more shock. Harry managed to sit up, whilst still hugging Ginny, who had yet to let go of him.

"Hi guys, this is my wife Ginny. We have been sent back by the Gift of Time from eleven years in the future."

The looks on their faces were priceless, they even had Fawkes trilling in amusement; Harry looked over at the bird in question with a raised eyebrow, _"I still have an awful lot of questions for you."_

_"I know you do young one, and rest assured, in time I will answer them all. For now though, I will take my leave, and allow you to catch up with your family."_ Fawkes stretched his wings, before he took off, he looked at Harry _"You must learn to embrace the nature of your inner phoenix my young friend. When you examine your wand I would suggest placing a new feather into it."_

_"What happened to my wand? And a feather from where?" _Harry asked back getting a little concerned that something had happened to his wand.

His concern must have shown because Fawkes gave a soothing trill, _"Relax my friend your wand is fine, but it will need strengthening if you plan on wielding that kind of raw magic again soon. As to where to get another feather, you already have one of mine, and I know of only one other phoenix, even if he is extremely young."_ With that, Fawkes took flight over the bed and disappeared in a flash of flame.

The phoenix leaving startled Sirius and Remus out of their shock, Remus spoke up first, "That… That explains a couple of things." Sirius, nodded in agreement.

"Yeah it does, like how on earth you knew what our Marauder names were, or how you even knew I was innocent."

Harry smiled, "Good; because I really didn't want to have to steal, I mean borrow, Albus's pensieve to get you to believe us." Sirius smiled at the intentional slip up, whilst Remus groaned, mumbling something about another one.

Harry gestured for the two of them to sit down, "Right, first off, what happened after I collapsed, and how long has it been?"

Ginny's arms tightened around him shortly when he mentioned collapsing, it was Remus who answered, "After you defeated the Fiendfyre and Malfoy was stunned, the Auror's immediately rushed to arrest him; and we all rushed down to see you." Harry nodded, "Before Albus could even ask for a healer, Fawkes grabbed onto you and brought you here. A few seconds later, he came back and grabbed Miss Wea-Mrs Potter, and took her away as well. The headmaster guessed where he had taken you both and made a portkey for us and the rest of the Weasley's."

Sirius picked up the story, "Its Sunday evening, you've been out for two and a half days; the healers said you had severe dehydration and heat exhaustion from battling the flames."

Harry nodded, "Who stunned Malfoy? I know none of the Auror's would have been quick enough of the mark to do it, which leaves either myself, but I was a tad busy, Dumbledore, or…" Harry looked down at his wife as she tried to bury her head into his chest, "Gin? Something you wish to tell me?"

Ginny mumbled "No", although she was certain Harry could feel the heat of her blush through his hospital gown, Harry gave a small laugh and kissed top of her head. Harry looked up at the others, "So who does everyone think stunned him? And why does it look like the three of you have been sleeping in this room?"

Remus cleared his throat, their little interaction reminding him of a similar looking couple from a long time ago, "People are under the impression that it was Mrs Weasley, but she has adamantly refused to answer any questions on the matter, even Dumbledore couldn't get her to tell him what happened."

Harry smiled at his mother-in-law's actions, "What has the press been saying? And you avoided my second question, why does it look like you have slept in this room?"

Ginny snuggled deeper into his chest as Harry hugged her, as such, he missed the look that passed between the two Marauders.

Sirius decided to get the easy answer out of the way first "It looks like we've slept here, because we have." Sirius raised a hand to stop Harry's interruption, "We weren't going to leave you pup. And after Ginny's little display when her mother tried to get her to leave, we thought we would stay as well, so she had some adult supervision."

Harry frowned, "What display?"

Harry barely heard Ginny's mumbled response, but he got the gist of it, "You _accidentally_ banished your mother through the doorway when she tried to get you to go home?" He felt her nod against his chest, "Was she alright?" another nod, "Then there is no harm done; she already thinks we are falling in love, now she has even more proof."

Ginny looked up at him sharply, "She thinks were falling in love?"

Harry nodded, "You know for a professional quidditch player, you're not very observant." She gave him a scowl and slapped him playfully on the arm, "Prat."

Sirius had a small smile on his face, from the pair in front of him; he shifted in his seat trying to move away from the topic of the press, but could not do it, deciding to summon up some Gryffindor courage he spoke, "Erm, about the press…"

Harry quickly looked up at him, "Would the public's reaction have something to do with the three Auror's stationed outside?"

The two adult's eyes widened slightly as they nodded, Remus spoke "Perhaps it would be best for you to see for yourself." He reached into his robes and pulled out a slightly worn looking daily prophet. "This was a special edition from Friday evening."

**Sirius Black Innocent!  
****Ministry on the brink of collapse!  
****Harry Potter – a Mage?**

_Harry Potter – The Boy Who Lived, stunned the wizarding world earlier today by declaring the Ministry and the Wizengamot to have "Corruption at its heart". He also showed us how he managed to stop He-who-must-not-be named all those years ago, with displays of magic not seen since the time of Merlin himself._

_After sending the two Dementors that were present away with a powerful burst of magic that left everyone firmly planted in their seats. He repaired the snapped wand of his godfather one Sirius Orion Black, who was cleared of all-charges, and compensated for wrongful imprisonment. Incidentally, it was the wrongful imprisonment of Sirius Black, who was sent to Azkaban without a trial that started Mr Potter's campaign against the Ministry and the Wizengamot._

_The Senior Undersecretary to the Minister one Dolores Jane Umbridge, refused to believe the truth of Mr Black's innocence, and attempted to interfere with "the course of Justice" as Mr Potter phrased it._

_The crowd began shouting and protesting loudly at the injustice that Ms Umbridge was trying to force upon Mr Black, Mr Potter silenced the crowd instantly when he flung his hand in the air._

_Upon seeing the illegal actions of one of the highest members of our society, Mr Potter gave a rousing speech about how the members of the Ministry and Wizengamot should be just, true, and "held accountable to the same law's as the rest of us."_

_His speech was met with a standing ovation from the crowd, and several pale and shaken faces among the benches. After Mr Black was cleared and his wand repaired, the Chief Warlock and Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Albus Dumbledore and Amelia Bones, stated that "All Ministry department heads, and members of the Wizengamot will submit to questioning under Veritaserum regarding allegations of corruption."_

_After the cheering from this announcement subsided, Lady Augusta Longbottom, a long standing member of the Wizengamot stood up and said, "I will willingly submit to this questioning, I have nothing to hide" She went on to motion that all Ministry personal should be questioned regularly._

_This is when our leader, the Minister for Magic Cornelius Oswald Fudge, spoke up for the first time since the beginning of the proceedings. He attempted to stop the goings on around him, but was silenced by Mr Potter when he insinuated that the Minister had taken bribes from a Death Eater._

_That said Death Eater, revealed moments later to be apparent upstanding member of society Lucius Malfoy, tried to leave the courtroom, but was spotted by Mr Potter. Upon being spotted Mr Malfoy cast the dreaded Fiendfyre curse and tried to flee, a powerful stunner coming from the crowd brought him down; sources are unable to confirm the identity of the origin of the stunner at this time._

_The assembled witches and wizards stared on in shock as eleven-year-old Harry Potter, contained, controlled and subsequently extinguished the cursed flames, without any loss of life or damage, before collapsing from apparent exhaustion; sources indicate that both Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy are currently recovering in St Mungo's._

_Madam Bones wasted no time in starting the questioning of personnel; she began with the Minister himself. After only a few minutes of questioning he was stripped of his position; when he had finished answering the questions poised to him his total sentence in Azkaban amounted to 67 years._

_The previously mentioned Ms Umbridge managed to get out of the Ministry before the Auror's began rounding people up for questioning; she was apprehended by Mr Black and a close friend of his Remus Lupin a few hours later as she attempted to sneak into St Mungo's. She is currently in a holding cell at the Ministry, awaiting questioning, but this reporter believes that she was there to attack Mr Potter._

_If Mr Potter is capable of doing all of this before he has even attended Hogwarts, what will he be capable of when he graduates? This reporter is not sure, but one thing is for certain, Harry Potter is a force to be reckoned with._

_This reporter also feels obliged to point out that a young female red head was seen in very close proximity to Mr Potter upon his collapse, it was also this red head that was the first to reach his bedside in St Mungo's, could love already be in the air for our young saviour?_

_Story by Rita Skeeter._

_For more on the trial of Sirius Black see pages 2-4  
__For more on the trial of Cornelius Fudge see pages 5-12  
__For more on the devastating effects of Fiendfyre see page 13  
__For information on Harry Potter see pages 14-18  
__For information on Ministry and Wizengamot Members, see pages 19-36_

Harry dropped the paper to the bed and rubbed his face with his free hand, "Well, it could be worse."

Ginny gave a soft giggle, "Yeah it could be, and at least it is all truth and fact; which from Rita is rare."

Harry snorted, "Yeah. So how many have been fired or sent to Azkaban, or even fled the country? Wait, is Lucius still here?"

Sirius nodded, "Yeah, he's still here, his injuries were apparently quite severe, personally I think its Dumbledore's doing to make sure you're fit and ready for Malfoy's trial. As to the-"

"Wait." Harry interrupted him, "Has Lucius's home been searched yet?"

It was Remus who answered, "No, the Auror's couldn't get past the Manor's wards, they asked Dumbledore for help, and he said he would _'get round to it in a few days.'_I'm not sure why, but I think he is waiting for you."

Harry nodded, "I'll give him that he his smart." Ginny looked up at him, "You think he knows?" Harry shook his head, "I doubt it, though I suspect he knows enough to guess. Which is a good thing, the last thing we need is that accursed diary ending up in the wrong hands." Harry clenched his eyes shut when he sensed Ginny seize up, "Gin, I-" Harry took a deep breath, "Ginny, I'm sorry, I…" Harry gave her a big squeeze in his arms, "It is just a memory Ginny, it's just a memory, and you will never have to face him again, I promise."

Harry saw the questioning looks from the others, he shook his head, Sirius nodded before he spoke again, "Well, almost half of the Wizengamot have resigned, as have quite a number of people in the Ministry, but Madam Bones isn't letting a minor thing like a resignation stop her." Sirius's face lit up in a Marauder style grin, as Harry gave a chuckle.

"Good. Who is acting Minister?" Harry asked.

"No one." Remus answered, "All the positions that are being vacated are being left empty until 'The Potter Sweep' as people are calling it; is finished."

Harry groaned and dropped his head back to his pillow, "Perfect, something else named after me."

Ginny laughed, whilst the others just shook their heads in amusement, Sirius broke the silence, "So, thanks for getting me out of there, but um, well what on earth is going on?"

Harry laughed again, before he went onto explain to them the main events of the past, when he explained that they knew where Peter was, the two of them leapt up and demanded to know where he was.

Harry slammed them both back into their chairs with a thought, and made them listen as he explained all about Voldemort's resurrection, the prophecy, the battles, the War and its aftereffects, he deliberately left out information about the Horcruxes, that was a talk for another time.

After the telling, both of the Marauder's had unshed tears in their eyes. Sirius came up and hugged him as he spoke in a voice cracked with emotion, "I'm so sorry pup, and you have my word I will never get too cocky in a duel again." As Harry hugged him back, Remus spoke up "I can now see why you reacted so badly against Umbridge."

Harry nodded grimly, "Yeah. I have never cast the killing curse upon a person, but I'll be honest with you," Harry took a breath before locking eyes with the werewolf "I came damn close in that courtroom."

They stayed up talking way into the night, Sirius started teasing Remus mercilessly when Harry let slip that he was married and had a son, he stopped when Remus began teasing Sirius about being a ladies man at Hogwarts, that was when the story telling switched to the Marauders past. It was almost 4am when the two youngest finally succumbed to sleep.

* * *

Harry was extremely grateful for his invisibility cloak, as he and Dumbledore made their way down Diagon Alley towards Ollivanders, from the conversations going on all around him he dreaded to think what the reaction would be if he were visible.

After the healers had let him go, he let the two marauders in on the secret and then took them and his wife to Godric's Hollow, after he got the two marauders settled he took his wife back to the Burrow.

As soon as they arrived Harry began casting new wards around the property to keep unwanted people and reporters out, as well as keep Pettigrew in, he also placed a complex ward around Ron's bedroom that would make the rat stay in there unless Ron carried him out. For even more security Harry put a tracking Charm on the rat as well, 'no running away under a full moon this time.'

Harry was surprised by the reaction Dumbledore got walking down Diagon Alley, people nodded to him and waved, but no one approached him, Harry was making a note to ask the old man about why that was, when they entered the wand shop.

Harry sealed and warded the door and window before Ollivander came out, "Ah Albus Dumbledore, one of the only Ollivander wands in use today that I did not make myself." Harry saw the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes dwindle, but he ignored that and whipped of his cloak with a flourish he developed for scaring the hell out of the Auror trainees.

To Harry's disappointment and surprise, Ollivander did not leap back in surprise like cadets did, "Mr Potter, I have been expecting the pleasure of this visit."

Harry nodded his head whilst smiling at the man, "Perceptive as always Mr Ollivander. Yes, I am in need of your services." At this, Harry took out his wand and placed it on the counter; Harry then reached into his robes and took out a brilliant red feather that Ginny had plucked from his backside that morning, much to her amusement and pleasure.

As he laid the feather down next to the wand he looked up to Ollivander to see the man's eyes as wide as saucer's, "Whilst I knew of course you would be seeing me again, I… I never expected you to know why, or to have found an additional core, might I ask where you got that Phoenix feather from?"

Harry gave a grin a Marauder would be proud of "You may of course ask Mr Ollivander; that does not mean I shall answer, but by all means ask."

Harry saw the wand maker narrow his eyes at Harry briefly, before nodding his head and picking up the materials and going into his back room, he called over his shoulder, "You may want to grab some lunch this will take me a while."

Harry glanced back to Albus whose eyes were twinkling quite merrily, he inclined his head towards the door, the old man spoke "Are you sure you wish to be seen in public with me Harry? It would raise a few questions if you ate from under your cloak."

Harry just nodded, "We can get one of the back booths, Tom is a good barman; he'll respect our privacy." Albus smiled and gestured out of the door as Harry slipped his cloak back on.

* * *

"Ah Headmaster, nice of you to finally lend us your time." Amelia Bones spoke with just a hint of venom in her voice, as Albus and an invisible Harry made their way up the path to Malfoy Manor in the early evening.

"Ah Madam Bones, I must apologise for taking so long to get back to you. I was waiting on a specialist I know to recover from his last adventure." Albus replied, whilst eyeing the several Aurors who were guarding the property.

Madam Bones gave a small frown, "Where is this specialist Headmaster?"

"He quite prefers his anonymity and I am inclined to agree with him, it would not do well for anyone to discover this specialist's identity." Albus stated with a subtle hint of power in his voice.

Undeterred by the Headmaster, Madam Bones spoke "Hmm... while I can understand the need for secrecy, I must insist that I be informed of his identity. If it would be acceptable I will send the Auror's home, and it will just be the three of us?"

Harry decided that this was the best offer they were going to get, and sent a legilimency message to the headmaster, _"Albus, agree with her, and make sure she understands the need for complete secrecy about this, especially about what we are removing."_

Albus gave a subtle nod to acknowledge that he had heard Harry, "Very well, Madam Bones, please dismiss your Auror's and I shall contact my specialist."

Amelia was a bit surprised to have gotten her way with arguably the most stubborn man on the planet, but not wanting to risk him changing his mind, she quickly dismissed her Aurors, and gestured to the headmaster, "Your show Albus."

Albus, cast some heavy privacy wards across the drive behind them, and then nodded to where he guessed Harry was hiding, "You can come out now Harry."

Harry whipped his cloak off and folded it under his shirt, where he kept it permanently now, thanks to a handy hidden expanded pocket he installed in all his shirts. "Thanks Albus." He nodded to the head of the DMLE, "Madam Bones."

"Mr Potter!" Amelia exclaimed.

"Yep. As the headmaster explained, my involvement here is known to only the three of us, and that is the way it will stay." Harry gave her a piercing stare, which would have made most of the Auror's quiver. She merely nodded, though Harry could tell she was a little apprehensive.

Harry explained why he was here, "Madam Bones, _we_ have strong reason to believe that there is an item in this house that belongs to Lord Voldemort himself, and if discovered for what it truly is... Could be used to bring him back."

Harry watched as her eyes widened and she visibly gulped, Harry gave her a grim smile, "I see you fully understand the scope of the situation."

She gave a hesitant nod, and cleared her throat, "Indeed I do Mr Potter, what help do you need?"

Harry gave a genuine smile, "First of; where is Narcissa and Draco?"

She looked at him curiously, "We believe they have left to a villa in the south of France."

Harry mouthed 'believe' to Albus, he gave a subtle shrug, "Very well, is that permanent? Or will I have to put up with Draco at Hogwarts?"

"I am afraid I do not know, Mr Potter." She explained looking slightly annoyed, as she had caught the mouthed word.

Harry caught the look of annoyance and guessed what it was for, "Tell me Madam Bones, who was it who actually apprehended Mr Malfoy? Who was it that stopped that Fiendfyre? Who was it that got YOUR department of its arse to do its job?" Harry paused as he thought how to suggest to her subtly that the Auror's were useless, "I could probably train up some of my new future classmates to be a match for your Auror's by Christmas!" 'Ok maybe not very subtle.'

Harry stared down the slightly embarrassed witch, until she looked away. He walked closer to the house, when he was a couple of steps past her she spoke "Mr Potter, I could use an outside perspective on my department, despite your age you appear to have a very mature head on your shoulders, do you have some suggestions on ways to improve the Auror force?"

Harry turned back to face her, "Madam Bones, I could write a whole seven-part Harry Potter book series on how to improve the entire Department of Magical Law Enforcement!"

Harry turned back round to examine the wards, when she spoke again, "I would be very interested in reading those books Mr Potter. We…" she sighed, "_I_ have let the entire nation down in my duties, and I will do all that I can to rectify that."

Harry looked into her eyes and saw the sincerity there; he nodded slowly, "Ok. I shall forward some suggestions for you when I get home." Harry turned back and started to feel the magic of the wards; he spoke without turning round, "With an attitude like that, you would make a good minister."

Before she could comment, she saw Harry snap his wand out, and decided to wait until he had finished whatever it was he was going to do.

He brought the tip of his wand to point into the palm of his left hand, and he began to build up a magical pulse, using his hand to hold it in place and shape it into a ball. After a second, the ball was ready, and Harry flicked it at the wards with a velocity that forced a shockwave to flatten the shrubbery on the sides of the path.

The ball slammed into the wards and caused an echoing clang as it made a splintered fracture in them, as if it cracked a giant glass dome that was around the Manor. Harry noted where the fractures ended, and charged and fired two more balls into the wards in the shape of an upside triangle, he made sure the fractures overlapped.

After he fired the second ball, Amelia went and stood next to Albus, not wanting to disturb Harry she whispered to him, "Albus, have you ever seen someone dismantle wards like that?"

Albus never took his eyes of Harry and the wards in question, "No, I have not. And I feel he is not dismantling them, but destroying them."

"An excellent observation Albus." Harry shouted from down the path.

Dumbledore gave a small cringe, "Forgive us Harry, we did not mean to disturb you."

"I know. And the reason no one has ever broken wards like this is simple-" Harry turned back to face them, "No one else has the raw power to do so." He turned back to the wards and adjusted his footing, "You may want to shield yourselves, this is gonna be big."

He felt them both erect shields and took a deep breath, "He goes nothing." He muttered under his breath as he brought up his wand and began charging a new ball. This one took almost half a minute to charge up, by which time Harry was barely visible to the two observers because of the glow of the raw magic in his hand. Harry flung his wand forward to throw the ball, as he brought his left hand up alongside his wand with the palm outwards, to form a beam to the ball so he could channel even more magic into the ball as it flew towards the wards.

The giant ball slammed into the dead centre of the triangle with a massive clang that would have been heard miles away. The dome of the wards buckled under the impact of the ball and started to bow inwards at the triangle where Harry was still pumping magic into them. After several seconds, the wards could take no more and the beam of magic from Harry ripped through and shattered all of the windows this side of the Manor.

Harry pulled his hand back and flicked his wand to form a maxima shield around him and the others. As the wards collapsed in on themselves, they released a devastating magical backlash that levelled everything around as far as the eye could see. Harry's shield was severely tested by the backlash as it buckled and strained, but managed to hold.

Nothing could be heard in the silence that rained, Harry took several deep breaths before starting down the path, he paused as the memories of his last visit to the manor came tumbling through his occlumency shields; he managed to force the sound of Hermione's screams back down behind his occlumency, and continued down the path.

Albus and Amelia were still rooted to the spot in shock at what they had just witnessed; Albus seemed to come around first and guided Amelia along the path after Harry.

As they approached the front of the manor, Harry waved his wand and the main doors flew open as if they had been hit with a battering ram. Harry wanted to repair the windows, but thought that Amelia had had a big enough shock already.

Harry stood in the doorway and closed his eyes, reaching out with his magic to try to find the horcrux, he felt Amelia and Albus come and stand beside him, and felt Albus gesture to Amelia to stay quiet and still.

The three of them stood still for almost five minutes, until Harry's eyes sprung open and he took off at a brisk walk through the hallway to the left.

Harry quickly shattered the wards protecting the secret chamber under the drawing room, and entered slowly, the others followed him with their wands drawn, once they were inside Harry flung a lumos maxima into the middle of the room, the three of them stopped dead at the sight.

"Good lord" Harry heard Amelia whisper; before them was one of the largest collections of dark artefacts Harry had ever seen, the room itself was almost half the size of the Hogwarts Library. Harry turned around to face the others when he caught a flash of light to the side, he looked towards it and froze, anger at Malfoy bubbling up inside of him, he pushed it down, 'Malfoy will get justice.' Harry repeated the phrase repeatedly in his head several times until he was calm.

The two adults saw the look of anger pass across Harry's face and turned towards it, Amelia let out a gasp, and Albus did not seem to be bothered by it. The white mask and black cloak were in pride of place on the main wall, ready to be used again at a moment's notice.

Harry snapped his eyes back to Amelia and Albus, "We are looking for a small black book, it has the name 'Tom Marvolo Riddle', in gold lettering on the back, if you find it, DO NOT touch it, or even approach it." Harry fixed the two of them with a strong gaze, before turning round to begin searching through the dark arts treasure trove.

* * *

It was the day after the excursion to the manor that found Harry sitting waiting in a meeting room in the DMLE. He could feel the presence of the horcrux in his pocket, and it was taking every ounce of his self-control to not fling it out and turn it into ash. He restrained himself for one reason, he wanted the object's themselves as intact possible; so he could show them to Voldemort in their final duel, so the dark lord who fled from death, would know he was about to die.

At that thought Harry stopped dead, as his mind seem to freeze, "I have to kill him." Harry whispered aloud 'I can't rely on a back-firing wand, I have to actually kill him.' Harry gave a small involuntary shudder at that thought before he froze again, "I have to kill Quirrell…" Before Harry could get lost in his thoughts, the door banged open.

In the doorway flanked by perhaps the two most contrasting Auror's in the world, Kingsley and Dawlish, stood a rather worn looking Lucius Malfoy, his prisoner robes appeared fraid and his hair was unwashed and a complete mess. The death-eater who had seen better days looked around the room with slightly tired eyes, the life in them mostly extinguished, when he saw Harry he stopped dead, and was unable to stop the shudder of fear that ran down him as he laid eyes on the boy that had defeated his Master and stopped Lucius's own Fiendfyre.

Harry quickly shook away his thoughts and nodded to the two Auror's, they chained Malfoy to one of the chairs, and left to stand by the door, Harry just stood there staring at them. Kingsley seemed to get the message first, "I'm sorry Mr Potter, but we have orders from Acting Minister Bones, we aren't to leave Mr Malfoy's side."

Harry gave the new Head Auror a nod, 'so she did listen to my suggestions then' he thought with a mental smirk, "Very well, but I must insist on some privacy charms." Harry told them with a less than subtle hint of a command behind his words.

Harry watched in satisfaction as Dawlish visibly squirmed, but Kingsley merely stood there, although Harry could pick up the ever so subtle hints that he was putting on a front, the fang ear-ringed Auror spoke "I can allow a silencing charm, but that is all Mr Potter."

Harry nodded in acceptance and let the Auror cast the silencing charm, he then turned his attention to Lucius who had watched the exchange with a hint of curiosity, "Lucius." Harry nodded to him, he fished the diary out from his pocket and threw it on the table, he watched has Lucius's eye's went wide and he looked up at Harry with nothing put pure fear etched on his face.

Harry gave him a small smile, "Yes Lucius, I know this came from your master, and I know what it is capable of." Harry said whilst glaring at the man, who seemed almost frozen, whether it was in shock or fear, Harry was not certain. "Once you confess to all your crimes under truth serum, you know that there is a snowballs chance in hell that you won't get the kiss." Malfoy just nodded numbly at Harry, the young wizard continued, "What do you think the reaction would be if I revealed the origin of this diary, and its capabilities, to the Wizengamot during your trial?"

Harry watched as the blond death eater paled even further, "Yeah; they would string you up as an example, milk your vaults dry, and do everything they could to completely destroy both you and the entire Malfoy name, _before_ tossing you to a Dementor."

Malfoy just nodded numbly whilst a small part of his brain tried to fathom out what Harry was doing, "W… wh… why a… are y… you do… doing th… this?"

Harry gave him a grin that sent a shiver down his spine, "Because Lucy, you have something I want; or rather someone."

Lucius gave a small frown "Wh…" he coughed, Harry turned to Kingsley and mimed a glass of water, Kinsley quickly conjured one with a straw and set it down in front of the death eater. Malfoy greedily drank the water before he tried speaking again, "What are you on about Potter?"

Harry gave him a glare as his eyes began to glow slightly, "I want your house-elf, Dobby."

Malfoy blinked at him in shock, he wanted to burst out laughing, but the glowing green eyes kept his humour in check, "And why Potter, should I give you my house-elf?"

Harry kept his eyes glowing as he smiled, causing even Kingsley to have a small shudder in fear, "Because Lucius, I can see to it that this diary never sees the light of day, _and_ I can get you the veil instead of the kiss. And all I ask for in return for sparing your family humiliation, and yourself from a fate worse than death, is a single house-elf; quite a bargain if you ask me."

* * *

As they were driving to Kings Cross in the Weasley's ford Anglia, Harry reminisced over the best summer holiday's he could remember.

After giving the little guy a massive hug, Harry issued several standing orders to Dobby, and left him in the care of the Marauders as they settled in to Godric's Hollow. Harry completely ignored Remus's protests when he forced gold upon him; Harry said it was "For your new job." When Remus all but demanded "What job!" Harry told him, "My Private Tutor." Harry quickly Disapparated from the kitchen, before Remus could protest.

Harry returned to the Burrow, where there were the quidditch games with all the Weasleys, who were in shock when Harry let loose with a few professional moves on his new Nimbus 2000, a belated present, curtsey of Sirius; although Harry knew it was Ginny's idea. In addition, they were left completely dumb founded when Ginny flew rings round her brothers on an ancient broom; she flew so well, that her brothers refused to play when Harry lent her his Nimbus.

On one of the many afternoons when they came over, the twins got to meet their idols when Harry greeted Sirius and Remus by their Marauder names, after much story telling from the Marauders, much to Molly's chagrin; the twins handed over the map to Harry.

They spoke in perfect unison, "Son of Prongs, Godson of Padfoot, Nephew of Moony, we present this to you, and hope you use it wisely, and let us borrow it on occasion." Harry graciously accepted it, whilst smiling widely; he was going to have some fun at Hogwarts this time around.

Seeing Remus and Sirius so happy, made Harry smile, he decided to leave the Horcrux hunt until the next summer, to give the two old friends a chance to get to know each other again, before being plunged into stopping a war.

For Ginny's 10th Birthday, Harry got her practically every bit of Holyhead Harpies kit that was made, clothes, quills, posters, diary's he also got everyone tickets to a Holyhead Harpies game, which resulted in a squeal of joy before she pounced on him and kissed him, in full view of the entire family.

The kiss was broken when a loud cough startled them; the cough quickly became a fit, and then turned into hysterical laughter. The young couple looked over and saw Sirius on the floor and Remus desperately trying to hold in laughter as well.

Harry glared at them, "Something to say Sirius?"

Sirius had managed to climb back onto his seat, and got out between bouts of laughter "No, not at all, just marvelling at the Potter curse." At everyone's questioning looks he elaborated, "Potter men, have always fallen hopelessly in love with red headed women the second they lay eyes on them."

Ginny blushed and looked down, Harry reached out and grabbed her chin, and he turned her head to face him, and placed a tender kiss on her lips. When he pulled back, she was as red as a beetroot but smiling a brilliant smile, Harry spoke in a soft quiet voice "I can live with that."

Harry glanced around, he noticed the smile on Mr Weasleys face as he gazed at his only daughter, and he sighed when he saw the mischievous grins on the twin's faces. Percy was looking thoughtful, Harry guessed he was wondering who he was going to ask out. Ron was just staring at Harry as if he had grown a second head; finally, he blinked and gave half a shrug. Harry smiled at his friend before turning to face Remus and Sirius who had a couple of unshed tears in their eyes. When Harry's gaze found Mrs Weasley, he groaned at the look on her face, Ginny followed his gaze and giggled, she spoke to Harry but made sure everyone could hear "It is ok Harry; I'll make sure she doesn't go overboard planning our wedding-" She added in a whipser meant for only Harry, "again."

Harry smiled as he remembered the overheard conversation between Mrs Weasley and Sirius later that afternoon "Yes I'm sure Molly, Harry is in love with her. It was the same with James; thankfully Harry has a better head on his shoulders at this age then James did."

Harry was pulled from his musings as the car stopped outside Kings Cross station, the group of them made their way through the station, attracting several odd stares as they did, it was a rather uncommon sight to see two owls in cages, and five large trunks being wheeled through the station.

Sirius was pushing Harry's trolley whilst conversing with Remus about what the two of them were going to do now Harry was off to Hogwarts. Harry could have sworn he heard them mention the words 'joke' and 'shop' and he figured the twins would have a rival, or a business partner, he stopped thinking about when he felt Ginny give his hand a hard squeeze.

Ginny had Harry's hand in a vice grip, no one had spoken to the young couple on the journey, it was clear to all that they were going to miss each other like crazy.

With the truth of their relationship out in public they had not had to hide it, and had been showing affection to each other in front of others; they had to tone it down somewhat though around the other Weasley's. Harry had stopped bothering to count the number of times Arthur came to check on the pair of them during the night. It got so bad that Harry had taken to actually sleeping in his camp bed, instead of just jumping in to it at the last second; whilst that was very hard on both of them; they knew that the much bigger separation was coming.

Thanks to both Harry and Ginny backing Mrs Weasley's suggestion of finishing the packing the night before, there was no mad dash through the station to get to the platform. After the trunks were loaded onto the train, everyone said their goodbyes to each other and slowly boarded the train, until it was just Harry, Ginny, and the other adults left.

Harry looked into his wife's eyes and he saw the sadness that she was trying with all she could to hide, it broke Harry's heart to see her like that, he gathered her up in a hug, and stroked her hair as she broke down crying in his arms.

The adults saw this and all formed a protective barrier around the couple, shielding them from everyone, as Harry surreptitiously raised a notice me not charm around the two of them.

With the charm in place, Harry gently pulled her away from him until he could look into her eyes, "I love you Ginevra Molly Potter, with all my heart." Harry then kissed her pouring every ounce of feeling he had into it, it only took a split second before Ginny was kissing him back with equal vigour.

After what felt like hours the two lovers broke apart, Ginny leaned her head against his chest and spoke softly, her voice laced with emotion, "And I love you Harry James Potter." Harry gave her a final tender kiss and a squeeze before he dropped the charm and walked towards the train without looking back.

* * *

A/N - I hope you liked it, longest one yet :S I haven't decided on the name for the next chapter yet, but it will involve the journey and probably the sorting as well. I have no idea when I'll get it out, hopefully it will be this month, but I doubt it.


	14. C 13 : Journey's

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – I am really sorry for taking forever to write this, it has not been the easiest chapter to write, nor was finding the time to write, and when I did find the time I have so many plot bunnies running around inside my head it was difficult to focus on _this_ story. Anyway, you don't want to hear my excuses you just want to get on with the reading, so ladies and gentlemen, somewhat later than planned, here is chapter 13, enjoy :).

* * *

**Journeys**

Harry met up with Ron on the train, trying to keep the heartbreak off his face, although judging by the look Ron was giving him, he wasn't completely successful, "Let's go and find some other first years, see if we can make some friends before we get to the castle?"

Ron nodded and after Harry had let Hedwig out and shrunk her cage, the two began dragging their subtly lightened trunks down the train; Harry did not know what compartment Hermione and Neville had gotten originally, but knowing Hermione, he figured it would be near the front of the train.

After walking for several minutes they were in the first carriage of the train, Harry turned back to Ron and gestured to the compartment containing the two first years. Ron looked in, his eyes lingering slightly on the girl before he shrugged and said, "Seems alright."

Harry gave him a slightly smug smile, and slid open the door "Hi, do you mind if we join you?"

The girl looked up from staring at her lap, when Harry saw her eyes, it took all he could to not run over and pull his sister into a hug, Hermione seemed depressed, 'this is not right, what have I changed to cause this?' Harry was pulled from his musings, when the boy stood quickly and said, "Sure, I'm Neville Longbottom." whilst sticking out his hand, Harry smiled at him; it seems not every change he had made was negative. Harry took his outstretched hand "Nice to meet you Neville, this is my friend Ron Weasley, this lovely lady on my shoulder is Hedwig, and I'm Harry Potter."

As predicted the reaction to his name was immediate, Neville's hand froze mid-shake, as his eyes quickly darted up to Harry's forehead, "Ni…" Neville coughed quietly, "Nice to meet you Mr Potter, I hope we might be able to become acquaintances."

Harry smiled at him, "For starters Neville, it's Harry, and secondly I don't want to be acquaintances with you." Before Neville could become completely crestfallen, Harry spoke again, "I'd like to be friends with you. I'd like to be friends with you both, Miss?"

Harry turned to look at her as she looked up to meet his gaze, "Hermione Granger." Harry barely heard the mumbled introduction; Harry heaved an internal sigh, he knew he would hate himself for it, but he needed to know what he had changed to cause his formally hyperactive friend to be so subdued, with that thought Harry dropped into her mind.

Harry saw a young girl's wonder and delight at the Wizarding world, only to turn to bitter disappointment when she picked up a daily prophet in Diagon alley. The young girl rushed to confront her parents, asking how such bad people were not in jail, and how some of them were even in the government. The parents struggled to answer the girls questions as they themselves were asking the same, although with the added undercurrent of 'are we doing the right thing'. The parents speaking to the girl a few nights ago, asking if she still wanted to attend Hogwarts, when Harry saw how much time and thought the girl put into the decision he pulled out of her mind, sat down next to her, and put his arm around her shoulders, ignoring Ron's small huff.

"Hi Hermione, I'm Har-"

"I know who you are, I've read about you in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and-"

"The Greatest Wizarding Events of the 20th Century." Harry interrupted the young witch's timid voice, "I wouldn't believe everything in those books, or any books for that matter, given how much corruption there was in the ministry, there is no way of knowing if what books say is truth, most if not all of them have had interference from the ministry at some point in their shelf life. There is also the fact that there were only four people present that night, two are dead, one is missing, and I have never been questioned about it, so where did they get their facts from?"

The compartment sat in shocked silence aside from the odd hoot from Hedwig who had left Harry's shoulder and was resting on the overhead rack, Hermione had finally raised her face to look into Harry's eyes, she blushed when she realised he had his arm around her, yet still asked "But why?"

"Why was there such corruption and nasty pieces of scum that tried to pass themselves off as respectable wizards?" She blinked at his tone and statement, but nodded.

Harry gave a one arm shrug, "Because at the end of the day, magicals, and no offence to you two here, especially pureblood's, are just plain lazy. The older families have house elves for all the day-to-day needs, and enough accumulated wealth that they never have to work, so they just sit back and do nothing. But when something comes along that threatens to change their perfect little world they leap up in riot protesting about the old-ways and insulting or in a fair few cases, attacking the entire population of first generation witch's and wizards, which they believe are the cause of the problem. When in fact without the constant ever increasing influx of first generation magicals our world will die out; much sooner than people think."

Harry's rant had once again shocked the compartment into silence, this time it was Ron who broke it, "Did you really mean all that stuff?"

Harry looked across at his friend and nodded, "Every word."

Neville blew out a breath he did not realise he had been holding, "Yo… You're right, I let the house elves do everything for me, I mean the only time I ever climb the stairs, is when I get up or go to bed. Oh god no wonder my family things I'm a squib, I-"

The rest of Neville's tumble into depression was silenced by a slightly pissed off Harry Potter, "Neville, your family is completely blind, you are a wizard, and to quote a big friend of mine, '_a thumpin' good one I'd wager, once you get trained up a little._' In addition, yeah you are right, you could use some physical exercise, it not only improves your fitness, but it is good for your health, and it helps improve your magic as well. I go for a run and work out each morning, once I find a place to do so I plan to continue that at Hogwarts, you are all welcome to join me." Harry looked at Hermione so she would know she was included, she gave him a small smile, the first he had seen.

Harry gave her one back as he gave her shoulders a squeeze, "That's better, now see here, yes the ministry was full of corruption, and yes there were murderers walking around free, but they are _all_ either behind bars or _enjoying_ their next great adventure."

Harry looked back across to Neville as the timid boy spoke, "I think I would like to join you for that morning run, you don't run far do you?" Harry kept a perfectly straight face as he replied, "That's great Neville, and nah I don't run that far, only a couple of miles."

Neville blinked a few times, mouthing to himself 'miles', after a few seconds he locked eyes with Harry, and gave him a stiff nod.

Harry beamed at him, and as he turned to look at Ron, he received a steady nod as well. Harry looked at Hermione he smiled when he saw her smile and give him a nod as well, 'well it looks like the golden trio, has become a quartet' Harry thought as he smiled at his new old friends.

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while, until Ron looked up at Harry, "You said about th… that night, only being four people there, you said on… only two were…"

Harry gave him a sad smile, "Yeah, my parents."

Neville interjected, "But what about you-know-who, he died as well… didn't he?" Neville finished in a very small voice.

Harry looked them all in the eye, "For starters Nev, his name is Voldemort-" Harry gave a small glare at the two purebloods who yelped at the name, though Harry was happy to notice Ron's shudder was quite a bit smaller than Neville's, even Hermione gave a small shudder. "Or if you prefer you can call him by his real name, 'Tom Riddle'"

Harry got some very curious looks, "Oh come on you didn't really think he was a proper Lord did you?" He got blank looks of incredulity back at him, causing Harry to roll his eyes, "Fine I'll show you." Harry whipped his wand out, to the shock of Neville and Hermione who had not seen wand- holsters before, and showed them the anagram that made up the dark lords name.

Hermione commented on it first, "It doesn't mention that in any of the books about his rise to power."

Neville nodded "Yeah and Riddle isn't a magical name that I'm familiar with… wait does that mean that…"

Harry smiled at him and nodded, "Yep, the greatest dark lord in history one who believes that the mixing of magical and muggle blood is a crime that is punishable by death, is the son of a muggle."

"I wonder if all those death eaters knew they were serving a half-blood, when they were… you know..." Ron interjected.

"Shoved through the veil into the great beyond?" At Ron's nod, Harry shrugged "No idea. One thing I do wonder though is that with all the new laws regarding Death eaters and the dark arts, if they are going to retry the people already in Azkaban." Harry pondered that for a few moments, 'maybe I'll owl Amelia about that, we do need to get into the Lestrange vault after all.'

Hermione asking what classes they were most looking forward to snapped Harry out of his musings. Ron was the first to answer "I'm not sure, Charms looks good, and I like the subject of potions but from what my brothers have told me, the professor is, erm, what were Bill's words… ah yes that's it 'a greasy git of a bully, who couldn't teach a goblin how to count'"

Harry snorted "Yeah that about sums him up."

Everyone looked at him "He was in my parent's year along with Remus and Sirius, they _knew_ him. Plus Alb- the Headmaster has spoken to me about him."

Ron shrugged accepting that Harry and the Headmaster talked about many things, "I think Defence against the Dark Arts should be good as well."

Harry smiled at him, "Yeah I think Defence should be the best class." 'I might start the DA a bit early this time around.' Harry looked at Neville, "What about you Nev?"

Neville blinked at the nickname before giving a small smile, which quickly turned into an embarrassed look, before mumbling something under his breath.

Before Ron or Hermione could ask what he said, Harry who had heard what he said, spoke up "Neville Longbottom, your grandmother is a complete idiot, I don't know what she's thinking, but she is holding you back." Harry sighed as a plan started to form in his mind, but before he could speak again, Hermione interrupted "What did he say Harry?"

Harry looked over at the young witch, "He said that his grandmother hasn't let him read any of his school books in case he hurt himself." Harry turned back to look at the sullen looking Longbottom, "I mean come on Neville, what did she think you were going to do, get a paper-cut?"

Neville was just staring blankly at the young wizard who had just insulted a woman most men cowered in fear from.

Harry gave a head jerk to Ron, who picked up on the message and stood up so the two of them could swap seats. Harry sat down next to Neville and let the old future couple talk by themselves, "Neville," Harry sighed, "You are a great wizard, and whilst I'm certain your family didn't mean it, they have… erm, not… treated you as you would have been, or rather should have been…"

Neville just looked at Harry blankly for a few moments before the Knut dropped, "You… you know… about… my par-?"

Harry interrupted him with a sad smile, "Yeah, I know."

After a long pause, Neville asked in a very quiet voice. "You really think my family hasn't treated me right?"

Harry sighed, "I know a thing or twenty about not being treated right by _family;_ hang on." Harry whistled to get the attention of the two on the other side, the both looked up at him quickly, Hermione had a small blush on her face, whilst Ron was trying to hide a smile. Harry cocked an eyebrow at them, which just caused the blush and smile to deepen, "Whilst I'm sure whatever is turning Hermione into a tomato is fascinating I could use your help with a few questions."

After turning a deep crimson they both nodded slightly sheepishly, "Right, first question, how many times have you been hugged by a family member?"

Both of them just blinked at the question, Ron was about to ask what the question was about, when he got a knock on his leg, he glanced at Hermione and saw her looking at Neville, who was looking down trying to shrink into the bench. Ron frowned and looked at Harry who gave him a sad smile and a nod, he nodded back and spoke honestly, "More than I can count, I got one from mum and dad, before I got on the train." Hermione nodded and added "Same here."

Harry nodded at them both then looked at Neville who seemed to be trying unsuccessfully to hide in the seat, "Until Sirius was freed, I had never had a hug, from anyone." Neville looked up at him sharply with wide eyes, Harry heard Hermione gasp, and saw out of the corner of his eye Ron's eyebrows had all but disappeared.

"Neville?" Harry gently questioned.

Neville took a deep breath and then nodded, "I've never had a hug."

Only Harry's hastily cast mild sticking charm kept Hermione in her seat, as she tried to lunge across the gap and hug the two young wizards.

Harry gave him a sad smile and a pat on the back, "That's what I thought. You live with your grandmother right?" At Neville's timid nod, he continued "And I'm guessing she has never once praised you?" Neville just turned his head away from them, Harry sighed, "I bet she also compares you to your parents, particularly your father at every opportunity?"

Neville seemed to shrink even further into the seat until Harry spoke up again, "She is a stupid bi-" Harry stopped mid word and snuck a quick glance at Hermione who was giving him a small glare at his language slip up, whilst Ron was smiling at him. Harry cleared his throat, "She is a stupid _cow_, who is defiling your parents memory, especially your father's by constantly belittling you. You are not your father, the same as Ron is not his, I am not mine and Hermione is not hers, yes, we may have some attributes from our fathers, just as we have some from our mothers, but that is what makes us who we are. You need to just ignore pretty much everything your _family_ has ever told you and just be yourself, don't be what others want you to be or expect you to be, just be yourself, and no matter what that is; your parents will always be proud of you; and I would always be honoured to call you a friend."

Everyone sat there for several minutes, with only the sounds Neville sniffling and Hermione crying breaking the silence in the compartment, eventually Neville wiped away the several tears that had dripped down his face, before he sat up straight and nodded at Harry.

Harry smiled and nodded back, as he saw 'his' Neville begin to emerge, granted it was only a small step, but you would not have bet anything on the Neville who was in this compartment thirty minutes ago being capable of charging down Voldemort's line on his own.

Hermione, after being realised from Harry's sticking charm jumped up and hugged all three occupants in the compartment much to Neville's shock, and Harry's surprise, whilst Ron just sat there trying and failing to hide a smile, Harry thought to himself 'surely two months of differences can't have made that much of change…can it?'

For the next couple of hours after the heavy discussions finished, they talked about nothing of real consequence, just the classes and quidditch, Harry was surprised that Hermione seemed more interested in quidditch this time around, and Neville managed to convey his impressive skills and knowledge in herbology.

Harry sensed a group of three approaching the compartment; he recognised one of the magical signatures and groaned as he dropped his head, before he sighed and sat up straight staring at the door, the others looked at him surprised, although Ron having seem Harry do similar things before guessed what it was, "Someone unfriendly coming Harry?"

The look Harry shot him had the young redhead quickly grabbing his wand, the other two saw this, and looked at each other before shrugging and doing the same; the three of them didn't see Harry's wand out so they kept theirs out of sight.

The compartment door was opened without so much as a courtesy knock, and there in robes that looked like they were fresh from the shop was the blonde pain in the arse to Harry's six years at Hogwarts. Draco may have escaped Azkaban by his parent's actions during the final battle, but in Harry's mind, he was still an arrogant nasty little piece of work, 'time to see if a month and a half without daddy has done some good'.

Harry stood up to meet him, "Draco. Crabbe, Goyle" Harry could sense a small amount of trepidation in Draco, so decided to see if the blonde prince had learned anything in the past months, "Was there something you were looking for Draco? Or perhaps someone?"

Draco nodded, "Yes Po- Mr Potter, I was looking for you so that I could introduce myself."

Harry inwardly smiled 'it appears there is half a brain-cell in that blonde head of his', "Well Mr Malfoy as I am aware of who you are, it would appear that I need to make the introductions." Harry gestured to the people in question as he spoke, "Neville Longbottom, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger; let me introduce you to, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle."

Draco gave a very small nod to Neville, and purposefully ignored the others, Harry frowned at this but let it go for now, "So then Mr Malfoy, now that introductions are over, is there something I can help you with?" Harry asked as he pinned the young wizard with a steely look.

Draco squirmed ever so slightly under Harry's strong gaze, whist the two gorilla impersonators behind him shuffled back slightly, "I was… intrigued, by your choice of _friends_ and wanted to offer you a better alternative."

'Perhaps I was wrong' Harry thought as his gaze became a glare, "And pray tell _Draco_, just what is wrong with my friends?"

Ron who had been at Sirius's trial, recognised the ice that was leaking into the voice that Harry had used and even though it wasn't directed at him it still sent shivers down his and all the other compartments occupant's spines.

Despite having an involuntary shudder at the tone of Harry's voice, Draco replied "Two blood-traitors and a mudb-"

Before Draco could finish his sentence he had three wands pointed at him, the fourth quickly followed but Draco only had eyes for the wand that was pointing directly at his forehead, being held steady by a glowing eyed pissed off Harry Potter. Draco gulped, as he stood frozen in shock and no small about of fear, not just at the speed in which Harry had gotten his wand out, Draco had not even seen him move; but also the fact that the tip of the wand was pulsating a rather ominous looking dark red.

Harry managed to hold the curse he was itching to fire inside his wand as he spoke to the blonde ponce in a voice laced with icy venom, "Draco Malfoy, that kind of thinking is exactly what got your father _executed_. It's funny we were talking earlier about how we are not the same as _our_ fathers, yet it would seem that you are an exact copy of yours." Harry closed the gap between them, as he pressed his wand directly into Draco's forehead, "You might want to have a rethink about just which way is the right way Draco, that tongue of yours _will_ get you arrested if you don't keep it in check, and open your eyes to the real world."

Harry stepped back and slowly lowered his wand, the two gorillas had already moved away down the corridor showing a sense of self-preservation Harry was surprised they possessed at this age. The others all followed Harry's lead in lowering their wands, but they kept them out.

Harry gestured to the doorway behind Draco as the blonde haired boy brought himself out of his shocked state and moved slowly towards the door, his eyes not once wavering from Harrys. As he was about to close the door Harry spoke again, "Oh and Draco, if you ever utter that word in my presence again, I promise you, it will be your last." With that, Harry pushed Draco out the way and slammed the door shut.

Harry took a few deep breaths to calm himself, before he turned back to face the others, Ron and Neville were looking at him with looks of shock and no small amount of awe. Harry barely managed to refrain from rolling his eyes at that, as he looked to Hermione and saw her staring at him with a confused look on her face, he guessed what it was about, and sighed as he put his wand away and sat down.

"Hermione, to answer your first question, I know you have read the Daily Prophet and thus know that those three boy's recently had their fathers executed by the Ministry?" Harry waited for her to look at him and nod, "Right, did you happen to read what the charges were?"

She scrunched up her face in concentration as she tried to remember what the charges were, after a couple of minutes of silence, she opened her eyes and her face paled slightly, the two boys barely hard her speak, but Harry heard it loud and clear, "Crimes against muggleborns."

Harry nodded at her, "Yes, the word that the delightful Mr Malfoy was going to say was 'mudblood'" Harry spat out the word, disgust clearly evident in his voice, "It is an extremely derogatory term for muggleborns, and even the term 'muggleborn' is somewhat derogatory, that's why I use 'first-generation.' If I had my way, and I'm close to getting it, the utterance of that word will get you a pretty substantial fine, with repeated use getting you a jail term."

Hermione gasped, "Is it really that bad?"

All three boys nodded, Ron was the one who spoke "Yeah it means dirty blood; the blood supremacy people use it on mugg- first-generation witches and wizards because they think they are unworthy to study magic because of their parents."

Hermione looked a little ill at that but Neville soothed her fears, "All of the worst practisers of the blood purity rubbish are either d…dead or in Azk…Azkaban. It's really only the death eater children and the pureblood elite that managed to evade all the new laws from the Ministry, that would dare use it, and if what Harry says is right, they will soon stop."

Harry smiled at him and nodded, "Yep Ame-Minister Bones has been having a bit of opposition from some of the older members of the Wizengamot, since this is a tax on the people, it needs a 95% majority vote to pass. I might have to get Sirius to take up his seat and act as proxy for mine."

After that, they began to talk about their classes again, when suddenly Harry had a brain wave, "Neville?"

The boy in question looked away from his discussion about plants with Hermione towards Harry "Yeah Harry?"

Harry quickly thought of the best way to phrase what he wanted to say before he spoke, "When we all had our wands out earlier, I noticed that yours seemed older, it's not yours is it?"

Neville started to look down, as he wanted to shrink away, but Harry's words from earlier stopped him, he locked eyes with the green-eyed boy and nodded, "Yeah it was my fathers."

Before Harry could reply Ron opened his mouth, "You can't get the best results with another wizard's wand."

Neville across at Ron with a small hint of anger in his features that shocked the red-haired wizard, "Is this something that an adult witch or wizard should know?"

Before Ron could open his mouth again to reply, Harry responded, "Yes Neville it is, _if_ they remember their visit to Ollivanders. Even if they don't remember it, they should know that trying to force a wand on an individual would mean it doesn't work properly. Ron and his brothers have used older wands for a while, but that's because they and I'm sorry for saying this Ron, but they couldn't afford them, at the time."

There was a pause as Ron glanced looked at Harry; money had always been a touchy subject for the youngest Weasley male, but his father's new position in the Ministry, and a few subtle donations from Harry and Sirius had removed most of the Weasley's financial worries. The twins still wore their old robes on principal, but the family went back to the alley to get Ron and Percy all new stuff after Arthur got his pay rise.

Harry watched fascinated as his friends anger became apparent for all to see, "She… She Argh"

Harry gently placed his hand on Neville shoulder, with a small calming charm on it, after Neville had relaxed Harry thought it was safe to speak, "I'm guessing the She is your grandmother."

Neville let out a resigned sigh as he nodded, "Yeah it is, I'm going to have to wait till Christmas before I can get myself a wand; that is if _she_ will even take me."

As Neville sighed again Harry spoke, "Neville, I will be having words with your grandmother before you go anywhere near her." Neville was about to object to that, but his protest died on his lips as he saw the steely tint in Harry's eyes.

Once Neville had nodded, Harry spoke again, "As for waiting till Christmas whats wrong with getting it now, we still have about four hours before we get to the castle?"

The three others were doing goldfish impressions that had Harry relying on his mastery of occlumency to prevent himself from rolling about on the floor.

It was Hermione who finally managed to regain the power of speech "But… but we can't get off the train until it stops. And the magical methods of travel are-"

Harry stopped her, "Yes we can't simply step off the train, and floo powder won't work from a moving location, but as for portkey travel we could do that, if we knew how to make portkey's, and it is illegal to create an unregistered one. We could also apparate, and whilst I do know how to, I don't have a license so again that would be illegal."

Harry had decided to show off a few of his advanced abilities as he doubted he could keep them secret for long, he just hoped and prayed that all his changes weren't going to cause Voldemort to do anything drastically different. Harry had already been running plans past Ginny, Sirius, Remus and Albus about what to do if Voldemort differed, their biggest problem was of the Horcrux within Harry, and that even if they found a way to remove it, they didn't know what would happen to Voldemort's spirit, despite Albus poring over every book he could find on the subject.

All three occupants shouted out at once, "What!"

Harry simply smiled at them "Yes I can apparate, I've been able to do it since I was seven, when I did it accidently to get away from my cousin and his gang and ended up on the school roof." It was only a partial lie.

Harry somewhat enjoyed the slightly gobsmacked looks he got from them, "Could you please keep it quiet though? At least until I can persuade Amelia to let me take the license test."

The others just nodded still slight shocked, Neville asked the obvious question "If you are not allowed to apparate how do you expect to get us to London?"

Harry smiled at him and sent out a thought, _"Fawkes?"_

The phoenix answered by appearing in a flash of flame in the middle of the compartment, to the shocked screams of three of its occupants, Harry merely laughed at them, "You really like making an entrance don't you?"

Fawkes didn't dignify Harry's question with a response he just flew up to the luggage rack next to Hedwig who was sitting there proudly with her feathers preened, Harry quirked an eyebrow at his owl 'does Hedwig have a crush?' Harry stopped that line of thought before he got to distracted, _"Fawkes can you please take me and Neville to Ollivander's shop in Diagon Alley?"_

Fawkes gave a trill of affirmation before speaking, _"Yes young one I can, yet why not simply take him yourself?"_

"_Because that would require me revealing my phoenix form, and I plan on keeping that as secret as possible for a long time, I haven't even told Sirius and Remus that I'm an animagus."_ Was Harry's reply.

Fawkes gave a trill of amusement as he spoke _"You are not an animagus yet my young friend."_ as the others in the compartment looked between Harry and the phoenix, it was Ron who spoke first, "I think they can talk mentally, I've seen them do this a couple of times when the headmaster sends him with a letter."

Harry glanced over at Ron, "Yes we can talk inside our minds." Harry turned back to the smug looking phoenix _"What do you mean I'm not an animagus!"_

"_You are a phoenix not an animagus, now when are we leaving?"_

Harry just blinked at the red swan sized bird in shock as he digested what Fawkes was saying, upon thinking about it, he wasn't really like an animagus, they normally take years to become one, he thought back to when he first took his phoenix form.

_Harry was lying in his bed in Bill's old room at the Burrow about two months after the War ended; he was practically confined to the house, as he hated his public attention. There were reporters by the dozen camped out around the Burrow hoping to get a glimpse of him, if he went anywhere he was swamped by well-wishers offering their congratulations, he didn't want it, he may have succeeded but the cost had been high._

_He turned over to face the window and caught sight of the edge of the pitch the Weasleys used to play Quidditch, he lay there thinking about how he used to feel on a broom, the feeling of just being free with nothing but the wind for company. Harry remembered with a pang that his beloved firebolt his only true gift from his godfather was destroyed._

_As he lay there just thinking about being back flying he started to feel a tingle through his body, recognising the signs of his magic, he quickly tried to calm his mind, but the tingle wouldn't go away if anything it got stronger._

_The feeling of his magic quickly became strong enough for Harry to try and grasp it, but before he could, pain exploded from his entire body as he was blinded by light, as quick as it came it vanished._

_Harry noticed his perception had changed and shook his head, he stopped when he realised his neck felt different, hell his whole body felt different, Harry moved his head to see and fainted when he saw the golden wings of a phoenix._

_Once he woke up and the shock had worn off, Harry thought he might be stuck like this, and tried to change back, after finding the feeling he got before he changed he tried to recreate it, and soon after he landed on his backside in the bed._

_With nothing much else to do, Harry tried shifting back and forth a few times, once he felt he had that down, he tried flying round his room and found it completely instinctual as he did on a broom. Whilst mastering flying around his room, Harry was wishing desperately that he could go flying outside, when he disappeared in a flash of flame, in his surprise at flame travel he forgot to keep flapping and started to fall to earth, he managed to right himself as he was about ten feet from the ground, and landed softly._

_He tired flashing around the ground a few times then back to his room, he let out a cry of joy that came out as a trill filled with such love and power that Harry finally started to understand why people were always going on about him, he was special._

_With that thought Harry took flight around the Burrow, he spent hours soaring around the Burrow's orchard and the surrounding countryside. He flew all the way down to the Rookery and saw Luna outside, he gave a trill that had her looking up, he flashed beside her and she smiled at him, he gave another trill before flying away back to the Burrow._

_That day marked a turning point as he finally decided to stop trying to be 'just Harry' he and Ginny resumed dating the next day, as Harry simply walked down to breakfast for the first time in weeks and kissed her._

Harry was snapped from his musings when Neville gently shook his shoulder, reacting purely on instinct, Neville was on the floor face down with a wand pointed at the back of his neck before anyone could blink. Harry quickly realised his mistake and put his wand away, "I'm so sorry about that Nev, you just caught me lost up in my thoughts."

Neville gave a shakey laugh as he climbed back onto the seat "Its ok Harry just remind me to never try and surprise you."

"Or wake him up." Ron added on the end.

Harry cringed as he remembered the rather vicious stinking hex he had hit Ron in the face with when he had fallen asleep in the lounge one evening.

Neville and Hermione saw Harry cringe and Ron subconsciously rub his face, and after a quick glance at each other thought it best not to ask. Neville cleared his throat to get everyone's attention "Erm there is the small problem of me having no gold on me."

Harry smiled at him "That's fine Nev; just think of it has an early Christmas present."

Harry stood up and was about to offer his hand to Neville when the boy in question spoke again, "Harry no you can't spend-" Neville was interrupted by Ron, "Don't bother arguing with him Neville, you will lose." At the questioning looks from Hermione and Neville, Ron clarified what he meant, "I have never seen him lose an argument to anyone other than my sister, and she only wins those because she gives up arguing and just silences him with a kiss."

Harry smiled at the redhead whilst Neville just shook his head slightly, "You clean out the Ministry, get your godfather out of prison, get all the death eaters of the streets, get several new laws passed, and you have a girlfriend."

Harry nodded at the herbology expert, "Yep." Then held out his hand, Neville shook his head again, as he got up and grabbed Harry's hand, Fawkes swooped down on to Harry's shoulder and the three of them disappeared in a flash of flame.

* * *

Harry and Neville flashed back into the compartment almost an hour and a half later to find a completed game of chess between the other two occupants in the compartment. That wasn't what surprised them though it was the fact that Ron was in the process of kissing Hermione on the cheek that had Harry beaming at them and clearing his throat loudly.

The two of them leapt apart sending the chessboard and its pieces flying, Fawkes trilled in amusement before leaving in another flash of flame. "Did you have fun whilst we were gone?" Harrys question was met with spluttering from Ron, and Hermione turning so red Harry was concerned her legs might give out due to lack of blood flow.

After some more good natured micky taking the four friends settled down into quiet conversation with Harry's thoughts occasionally wandering to what Fawkes had said, the phoenix's previous words at the hospital rang through Harry's mind, _"your phoenix nature, although you seem to have not embraced it fully."_

Harry was wandering what Ginny was doing right now, when the announcement came over that they were approaching the station, Hermione waited outside whilst the three boys quickly changed, after that they waited until the train stopped. Harry stroked Hedwig as she landed on his shoulder, he had been much more affectionate with than before and her behaviour showed that, "I'm sorry girl, but you're not allowed to come with me right now, why don't you go and grab some nice mice, and I'll see you later, ok?" Hedwig hooted and nipped his ear playfully before flying off out the window.

Harry turned to the others staring at him he rasied an eyebrow "What?"

It was Hermione who answered first, "You talk to her like she is a person."

Harry nodded at her "Yes. She can understand me perfectly."

Hermione looked at Harry oddly, "Can you talk to her too?"

He smiled at her, "Not yet."

They got onto the platform and heard the cry of the gamekeeper, "Firs'-years this way!"

The group of four met up with the other first years as they walked down the platform, Harry glanced around at all of them, recognising quite a few, he saw Malfoy had his head down seemingly deep in thought, Harry gave a half smirk, 'maybe I did get through to him.'

They made their way down to the boats, the four friends grabbed one to themselves, once there were all seated Hagrid's bellowed cry of "FORWARD" set them moving towards Harry's other home.

Harry could already the feel Hogwarts magic before they even got off the train, and it was just getting stronger as he got closer, he closed his eyes and just let the feeling of it wash over him. He snapped his eyes open when Hagrid called out that Hogwarts was coming into view.

He heard Hagrid speak up over the gently splashing against the boats, "Blimey I ain't ever seen the Castle ligh' up like that 'efore."

Harry ignored Hagrid's comment and smiled as he laid eyes on the castle; it was nice to see it whole without any of the scars of battle again. He was about to close his eyes again, when he felt a presence enter his mind, straight through his occlumency shields, panic began to set in as Harry got set to ready his wand, before he could get it out though, a soothing voice greeted him calmly.

"_Welcome home my young master."_

Harry's eyes almost fell out of his head as he realised to whom the voice belonged, he feebly returned the greeting, _"Hogwarts?"_

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A/N – There we are then, all done. You like my cliffhanger :P As you can see I have placed a memory within this chapter, and I'm going to go back and rework my three other memories into their respective chapters. I'm not going to bother even making a guess as to when the next chapter will be up, but I do make a promise that it will be before Christmas. I do really enjoy my warm fuzzy feeling :)


	15. C 14 : The Founders Child

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Here we are then, this one has been a bit tricky to write but I like how it has turned out, hope you can enjoy. In other news, the last chapter put this story over 300 reviews and 100,000 hits :D :D :D :D :D Thank You!

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**The Founders Child**

How Harry did not pass out is something he would never know, but he did not, even when he got the reply, _"Yes young master, I am Hogwarts."_

Harry closed his eyes, and barely managed to hold in a groan, _"Why are you talking to me now?"_ Harry half asked the castle and himself, as he tried to find a reason for it himself.

"_That is simple my young master, you are a blood heir to one of my fathers, and a magical heir of my other father, and you are of age magically. I should also offer congratulations on your marriage, and… What is this; __**Times Gift!**__" _Harry winced at the loud voice screeching inside his head,_ "My, my, Master Potter you have been busy."_ This time Harry really did groan as he deciphered what she meant, "I'm the heir of Gryffindor."

Three simultaneous cries of "WHAT!" snapped Harry out of his thoughts; he dropped his head in to his hands as he replied to them, "Ah crap. You heard that huh?"

Neville saw that Hermione and Ron were utterly speechless, in fact he thought Hermione might have gone into shock, "Erm yeah Harry we heard that. Is it true?"

Harry passed Neville's question onto Hogwarts _"Yes of course you are Godric's heir; you mean you did not know? Even in the future! How old were you?"_

"_No I didn't know, I suppose a part of me had always guessed, but no I had no real proof, there's no mention of it in any of the books I've read, and the Goblins didn't know, or neglected to tell me. And I was almost twenty-two."_ Harry replied to the castle.

"_Hmm, interesting."_ Was the castle's reply, _"Tell me Master Potter, can you think of any reason why I would not reveal myself to you after your magical maturity?"_

Ron and Hermione had snapped out of their shock, but Harry ignored all the boat passengers questioning looks as he mentally spoke back, _"Well there was a rather large battle in which you were heavily damaged, there was also an abundance of rather dark and powerful spells been cast in you for a whole year before that battle. And also can you please not call me Master, Harry is fine, or if you insist, Mr Potter would do."_

Harry got no reply back at all, it was just a silence so loud he was getting slightly concerned he may have broken the castle. Harry was about to ask if she was ok when she spoke again, in if he was not mistaken a voice laced with rage; _"I would like to speak to you face to face after the feast Mr Potter."_

Harry gulped and sent back _"Sure Lady Hogwarts, just a small question, how can we meet face to face, or rather where?"_

The castle replied in a rather clipped tone, _"The first room, the entrance is currently on the seventh floor, ask the elves about it."_ Harry blinked a few times before the meaning sunk in, he gulped realising why Hogwarts had not revealed herself in the past-future; _"I will be honoured to make your acquaintance after the feast milady."_

Harry refocused back to the physical world and saw that they were almost at the underground harbour; he looked at the boat's other passengers, and snorted at the rather interesting array of looks he was getting. He looked at each of them in turn before speaking in a quiet tone to make sure his voice did not carry to the other first-years, "Yes I am the heir of Gryffindor, I didn't tell you before because I have only just f-figured it out myself. And I apologise for appearing to ignore you, I was lost in my thoughts."

Ron shakily nodded in acceptance of that along with Neville, whilst Hermione was still just staring at Harry in blank shock, Harry gave her a nudge on the shoulder as the boats pulled up in the harbour, "Hermione are you alright?"

She gave a small start then looked down and blushed when she realised she had been staring "So…sorry it is just, a bit of a shock to hear that's all." Harry jumped out of the boat and extended his hand to Hermione, as she was climbing out she spoke in a hushed whisper, "You weren't lost in thought were you." Harry looked her in the eye, "No. I might explain it later, but not now, and I will never explain it if you constantly pester me about it, there are more important things in this world then knowing everything Hermione, you would do well to remember that."

She frowned at his statement as Ron and Neville climbed out the boat after them. When Hagrid called out is everyone ready, Harry quickly turned round to Neville completely ignoring Hermione's still frowning face, "Got your toad Nev?"

Neville blinked at him before nodding as he patted down his pocket, where there was a squishy toad shaped lump. Harry smiled at him, and the four followed Hagrid up the stairs to the entrance hall.

Harry made a note to ask Ginny if she remembered McGonagall's speech, Harry got the impression she gave the exact same one every year. Harry looked around at the other first years, whilst they waited for McGonagall to come back, he was interested to see that Malfoy still had his head down clearly thinking hard. Harry smiled at Susan Bones and got a sheepish smile and small nod in return, they had met a couple of times when Harry had dropped in on Amelia to give her his _ideas_ about improving the DMLE and the ministry in general. Harry was just thinking that he might have replaced one red head with a crush on him with another when McGonagall came back "Form a line and follow me."

Despite seeing it countless times before Harry still smiled as he looked around at the Great Hall in all its glory, the thousands of flickering candles lighting the place up, the stars twinkling down from the ceiling, he smiled when he heard Hermione speak "The ceiling is bewitched to look like the sky outside."

Harry listened to the sorting hats song with half an ear as he gazed across the staff table, Harry hid a smile as he saw Snape looking at his godson with a fairly well hidden frown. Harry looked at Quirrell sitting next to Snape and had to refrain from cursing him on the spot, 'I get the feeling my self-control is going to be pushed to the limit.'

As Harry was looking across to Dumbledore, Quirrell turned his head to start a conversation with Snape, as he did Harry felt the strong stab of pain in his scar, and a bump behind his occlumency shields. He managed to hide his reaction, an ability he had long since perfected; it does not do well to show your hurting in the middle of a fight.

He just took the pain as further proof that he was a horcrux, as for the bump, he would need to make sure his occlumency shields stayed strong around the _him_, he caught Dumbledore's eyes and saw that he was also hiding a frown as well, Harry pushed a thought out _"Albus?"_

The headmaster made no outward sign that he had heard Harry's message, but instead briefly locked eyes with him and sent one of his own, _"The wards have changed, we should speak later."_

Harry frowned realising that it was probably him being the reason for the wards changing, he sighed as he gave the Headmaster a subtle nod, thinking that his meetings tonight were going to be quite interesting, as McGonagall called out the first name.

The sorting went has Harry expected it to, though some of them did seem to take different amounts of time, as before, it was when Hermione's name was called that Harry started paying attention. He watched as Hermione gave the three of them a small smile before walking towards the stool and putting the hat on, no sooner had the hat touched her head then it shouted out "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry blinked but smiled at her as she went to the house table and sat down next to Percy who introduced himself in his normal manner, Harry snapped his attention back to the front when Neville's name was called.

The future herbology master nodded at the two of them and walked purposefully to the stool, those that knew the 'old' Neville were somewhat shocked at his seemingly massive boost in self-confidence, Harry shared a quick look with Ron and they both smiled at the dumb-founded looks worn by some in the Hall.

The Hat took longer to decide then it did with Hermione, but Harry knew it was a lot quicker than last time around, he smiled and clapped with the rest of the Gryffindor's when Neville walked over there, remembering to leave the hat behind this time.

Harry straightened out and took a small baby step forward when Malfoy's name was called, the blond prince was so deep in thought that McGonagall had to shout his name out three times, before he realised it was his turn. He sat down and put the hat on his head, Harry's eyebrows shot up at the fact that he had not been thrown straight into Slytherin. The hat seemed to be taking a very long time, and from what little could be seen of Malfoy's face Harry guessed they were having some argument. After almost seven minutes of sitting there, Malfoy seemed to slump his shoulders a little, as the hat shouted out "Slytherin."

Harry was so busy watching the rather downtrodden Malfoy sitting away from Crabbe and Goyle at the Slytherin table that Ron had to poke him in the back, when his name was called.

He stepped forward to the whole hall erupting into whispers, he had heard far worse and just ignored them as he sat down and put the hat on 'this should be interesting.'

"_My my, Mr Potter, quite impressive occlumency shields you have here."_ Harry gave the hat a mental shrug, _"Yes they are quite impressive, but as a part of Hogwarts they cannot stop me from having a look around."_

Harry shuffled slightly in his seat to get more comfortable he figured this would take a while, _"What do you mean when you say you are a part of Hogw… Oh, the magic of the castle is what powers you."_

"_Indeed it is Mr Potter, as powerful as the founders were, they could not have enchanted something as complex as me, to last over a thousand years. So yes I am tied into Lady Hogwarts herself, ah I see she has introduced herself to you as well, I sensed a shift in the magic when I was being brought in."_

"_Yeah, you wouldn't happen to know why she is angry with me do you? And what has happened to the wards?"_

Harry could have sworn he heard the hat snort _"Dear dear Mr Potter and here I was thinking you had some intelligence."_ Harry scowled at the inside of the Hat. _"Oh very well, she is not angry at you Mr Potter; I believe she is angry about what you told her about the future."_

"_Oh. That would make a bit more sense; I was trying to think what I could have done wrong."_

The hat chuckled in his mind, _"Oh do not fret Mr Potter, it has been a very long time since she has had someone to talk to."_

Harry frowned _"What about my father, he would have been the heir of Gryffindor as well, right?"_

The hat sighed, _"Yes he would have Mr Potter, but as is written in the charter an heir can only take up the mantle upon reaching their magical maturity at the age of seventeen, but being an 'active' heir, being aware of your status as an heir."_ The hat clarified for Harry's confusion. _"Grants you rather unprecedented control over the castle; because of this control and your father's, shall we say lack of respect for certain rules, Hogwarts decided not to reveal herself to him."_

Harry gave a mental nod at that, _"I can understand that, well I think that is enough chit-chat I have some meetings to attend this evening, and I am rather hungry."_

The hat gave another snort _"Very well Mr Potter; let me have a look around your memories. I know you want to go into Gryffindor, and based on what I have already seen, I expect you to go there as well, but I must do my job." _

Harry sighed and started to plan how he was going to in his classes, and handle Snape's issues with him, as he let the hat rummage around in his head, _"Hmmm interesting Mr Potter, there are some memories here that not even I can access, very impressive."_

Harry replied to it _"From what you must have seen my past hasn't exactly been white and fluffy, so yes there are some memories that not even I dare to think about, there are just too painful. Being back here in the castle with everyone again, seeing them all so young and innocent, well relatively innocent, I doubt I will be getting a lot of sleep tonight."_

"_My apologies Harry, I did not mean to bring them back up, I am done looking through your memories Harry, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt, you are the bravest person I have ever encountered, to walk willingly into the very jaws of death, I am quite humbled by you Mr Potter. I know you will protest, but the fact remains, despite what many may say, very few would actually be able to do what you did Harry."_

Harry sighed again, and in a mental whisper replied _"Thank you."_

The hat gave him the mental equivalent of a smile, _"You are most welcome Mr Potter, now there is the small matter of where to put you."_

"_Huh? I thought you had decided on Gryffindor?" _Was Harry's rather eloquent reply.

"_Yes I have Mr Potter but the fact remains you are a married heir, I should place you in the private married quarters, but I feel you will not want to sleep there without your wife."_

"_Wait what! I thought the names of students were written down at birth, why is… Oh crap. The names are self-updating aren't they?"_ Without waiting for an answer Harry continued, _"Great so we have to come up with a reason why we are married at eleven years old." _

"_I'm sure between yourself and your wife, the Headmaster, and two marauders, you can think of something by next year."_ Harry gave a mental shrug in acceptance of that, _"Now then I have something that I think you'll find belongs to you…"_

Harry barely had a second to register the hats words before he was hit in the top of the head with something heavy, he bit back a curse at the pain, and pulled the hat off his head, to the much-increased rumours in the hall, he rubbed his head with his free hand, subtly casting a healing charm.

He looked down into the hat and saw what he was expecting to see, the glistening silver, ruby encrusted handle of the Sword of Gryffindor. He grasped it with his right hand, and felt the small tingle of magic go through his hand, putting that aside for later thought he pulled it out with a swift flourish and held it aloft in front of him, to the shocked gasps of the Halls occupants.

Harry smiled as he absently put the hat down on the stool and caressed the blade, "Mr Potter." Harry turned round at the sound of Dumbledore's voice; he seemed to be the only one of the hall's occupants currently capable of speech.

"Yes Headmaster?"

"May I have a look at that sword, please?"

Harry handed it carefully over to the headmaster; who examined it closely before whispering reverently "The sword of Godric Gryffindor."

At hearing that many of the Halls occupants start talking quite loudly with their neighbours, whilst McGonagall clutched her chest, Harry was about to rush over to her before she regained her composure.

"Would you like me to create a scabbard for you?" The headmaster asked Harry silencing the chatter in the hall as he passed him the sword back.

Harry was about to reply with a positive when he heard the sorting hats voice in his head, _"You do not need a scabbard Mr Potter, you felt the tendril of magic, the sword is now a part of you, merely will it into and out of _existence_."_

Harry blinked at the hats voice, making a mental note to ask a few more questions to the castle later, 'maybe I should turn back?' "Harry?"

"Sorry sir was lost in thought there for a moment, no thank you I have no need for a scabbard." The Headmaster frowned but nodded and finished handing the sword over to Harry. Harry took a step away from the table and felt the tendril of magic into the sword, he pulled the tendril into himself, and the sword disappeared with a small pop, Harry smiled, and started to walk towards the even more shocked Gryffindor table. He paused and suppressed a smirk as he turned back towards the sorting hat, and raised an eyebrow.

Harry could have sworn he saw the hat frown, but ignored it as the hat bellowed out.

"**GRYFFINDOR!"**

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A/N – This is a little shorter than I had planned, but if I ended it where I wanted to it would be too long, or rather contain too much for my liking, anyway. The next chapter will be up as soon as I finish it, it will be titled _"Secrets of Hogwarts"_


	16. C 15 : Secrets of Hogwarts

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – There you go, hope you like.

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**Secrets of Hogwarts**

Harry was going over in his head what he was going to ask Hogwarts about as he made his way to the entrance to the room of requirement. The feast had ended rather subdued as Dumbledore gave his warning about the third floor, though Harry was questioned by the entire house about how he got the sword; he simply summoned it and started giving the blade a little polish with his robes and the questions soon died down.

The hat barely took more than a couple of seconds to put Ron in Gryffindor, the four friends all sat together and said nothing of the sword, they knew the reason for it. Percy led them all to the common room; Harry smiled as he looked around the memories of all the good times and the bad coming back to him.

Harry went to bed early claiming being tired; he closed his curtains and warded them, before slipping back out under his invisibility cloak.

Harry turned the corner into the corridor containing the tapestry and stopped dead in his tracks, in front of him surrounding the hidden doorway, were all of the Hogwarts ghosts, even peeves was there floating along merrily.

Harry took off his cloak, and said "Hello."

"Ah, Godric's heir!" It was nearly headless Nick who spoke, "Hi Nick, um why are you all gathered here?"

"The castle informed us you were going to meet with her, so we've been waiting here to catch a glimpse of you." Harry blinked, 'that's why they weren't at the feast'

"I see… Well here I am, and if you do not mind I have many questions for Lady Hogwarts, as I am sure she as many for me. Goodnight all." The ghosts all bowed and acknowledged the slightly blunt dismissal and began to float away, Harry shouted at to the poltergeist before he good disappear "Oi Peeves!"

"Yes master Potter sir?" 'hmm the ghosts see me as a master' Harry gave Hogwarts resident prankster a feral grin, "Well Peeves first off, you and I shall be getting along greatly in the coming years, in the meantime, no pranks against me or my fellow first year Gryffindor's, understood?"

The poltergeist nodded and floated away as Harry turned to the wall, and paced _'I need a place to speak to Hogwarts'_ after the third repeat an ancient looking door appeared, with the symbol of the Hogwarts crest raised in gold in the middle of it; Harry took a deep breath and entered.

The square room was made of worn looking stone, with torches lining the walls, and a large circular indent in the middle of the floor, containing a cube easily six feet across made of a material Harry did not recognise. He approached it carefully, in awe at the sheer amount magic that was flowing inside the cube but there was something wrong with it, like the flow was being held back; he reached out with his magic and recognised the underlying signature within the cube, "The ward-stone." Harry whispered reverently to himself.

"Quite something isn't it?"

Harry spun round at the voice, wand at the ready and froze as his breath caught in his throat, as he gazed upon what he knew to be the avatar of Hogwarts, looking exactly like his mother.

"W…Why?"

"Why did I take this form?" Harry nodded stiffly at her, his wand already away, "Because I needed a human form you would be comfortable with, and I did not think my last form would have been suitable."

Harry nodded, "I know of quite a few women- that came out wrong, but why did you have to choose my mother?"

The avatar smiled at him, as she gestured to two armchairs that had just appeared from nowhere, "I chose your mother, because you would be more open with me; at least that was my theory."

Harry gave her a nod, the shock having worn of slightly as he sat down opposite her, "What can I call you, Lady Hogwarts is a bit long winded and not a very good sounding name."

"Given my appearance, how about Lily?" The avatar looked at him with eyes the same emerald green as his but holding a spark of deep knowledge and ancient power.

Harry took several deep breaths, and nodded his head, "Ok then, _Lily_, where should we start?"

Lily smiled at him, "Gideon shared with me what he saw of the battle, but he didn't manage to find what happened to me?"

Harry eyebrows rose a little, "The hat is called Gideon?" Lily nodded at him; Harry sighed and looked down as he spoke "This room was in its guise as the room of hidden things, when it…" Harry took a deep breath and rushed it all out in one go "When it was destroyed by Fiendfyre."

Harry closed his eyes and waited for the angry outburst, he was about to open them and take a peek when he heard Lily's muffled crying, Harry quickly got up and went and knelt by her side, "Hey, it hasn't happened yet, and it won't happen again, I promise."

Lily rubbed her nose, "I k… know that, it's just…"

Harry interjected, "To be a thousand years old and suddenly faced with your own mortality?"

Lily nodded as she wiped her face, "Yeah."

Harry stayed by her side for a while as she sorted herself out, "Right then Mr Potter, you have some explaining to do."

Harry gave a small gulp, "What would you like me to explain?"

"Your plan to deal with whats possessing one of my teachers is full of holes so enormous you could fly a dragon through them." Lily's voice was steady and calm, but Harry could hear the accusation in her tone.

Harry sighed as he turned away from her, and walked over to the far wall, where a window over the lake appeared from the stonework the stars twinkling off the surface, he whispered a reply "I know."

Lily did not respond she just waited for him to carry on, "I know that things are already so different that the chances of things going as last time, even with intervention are slim to none. Despite what I keep telling the others and deep down what I keep telling myself, 'yes things are different but it will work out fine.'" Harry sighed again he turned round to face Lily; "I don't know what to do."

Lily nodded at him, "I know. His spirit form will live on even if his Horcruxes are destroyed."

Harry's eyes widened in alarm, "What, how do you… Explain." Harry's tone made it clear that it was not a question.

Lily made no indication that she heard the undercurrent in Harry's voice as she calmly replied, "Who do you think made the first Horcrux?"

Harry blinked for a few seconds, "Salazar…"

Lily nodded, "Yes he made the first, and when killed by Godric, lived as a spirit form for many years, as Godric and his son tried to locate the object. They succeeded in destroying it, but the act cost Godric his life. Several years later, one of Salazar's grandchildren found him, still in his spirit form; he designed a ritual to create a body for his grandfather. Godric's great-grandson finally killed Salazar once and for all, a good few years later."

Harry sat back down heavily in the armchair as he digested what she had said, "That's some history lesson." Harry shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts, "So if we can find a way to destroy the one in me, and get rid of all the others, even when he leaves Quirrell he won't die?"

"That is correct. As for the Horcrux in you, there are a couple of ways it can be removed safely."

It was a good thing Harry was sitting down, as his legs would have given out beneath him, as it was he slumped back into the armchair in shock, his question barely a whisper "How?"

Lily gave him a sad smile, "Other than the way it was removed last time, which I do not recommend, there are two ways I know of that it can be removed."

Harry was staring at her, hope evident in his eyes, "Please tell me."

Lily nodded, "The first way, I'm afraid whilst the easier and simpler of the options, is a few years away from being… _practical_. The second way is the one I would suggest you use."

Harry frowned, "Ok, why is the first option impractical?"

"It is a ritual; it would be impractical, because of what the ritual entails, it has gone by many names over the centuries, but I call it 'the soul cleansing ritual'. Like all rituals it requires a sacrifice, not of blood or an innocent life, but a willing sacrifice of innocence, by both parties."

Harry stared at her in confusion for several seconds in silence, as his brain tried to work out what she meant, the Knut dropped eventually, and he gulped and blushed, before he stammered out, "Erm... Yes well like you said that's a few years away from being… um, whats the second way?" Harry asked desperately trying to change the subject.

Lily just gave him a smile, "You are a phoenix."

Harry dropped his head into his hands, "Again with this 'you are a phoenix', I understand what Fawkes said when he mentioned it, about me not being an animagus, but could you please explain how I am a phoenix. Or if you can't do that, can you explain to me what it entails?"

Lily gave a small chuckle, "I can't explain why you are a phoenix, though based on your memories, I think the answer is quite clear myself. As for what it entails, well you are a human phoenix, with… _some_ of the abilities."

Harry kept his head in his hands as he ran over what she said, "Ok I can kind of see what you mean, but 'human phoenix' and what do you mean some of the abilities? Look can you please just give me a straight answer, what do I have to do to get rid of the horcrux in my head?" Harry asked exasperated.

Lily came and stood in front of him, "I am sorry Harry, I should have known better than to give you cryptic or incomplete answers, my apologies." She knelt down in front of him and took his hands, and waited until he looked up at her.

"You are a human phoenix, deep inside of you there resides the 'core' for lack of a better word of a phoenix; it is separate from your magical core." Harry frowned, trying to figure out where she was going. "Let me finish before trying to understand."

Harry gave a small laugh and nodded for her to continue. "When you transform, you access that core and become immersed in it, but it still remains separate from your magic. In order to, as Fawkes said 'embrace you phoenix nature' you need to merge your two cores together. That merger would give you some of the phoenix's abilities in your human form, and as a being of light and fire, it would also expel the soul fragment within you."

The pair of them stayed in silence as Harry processed what she had said, "Wow. I erm… Ok, I'm guessing a lot of deep meditation and stuff is gonna be required for this merger?"

Lily nodded, "Yes, there is no real instruction I can give, only meditate to try and visualise your cores and bring them together. Salazar's Magic's of the mind journal might be of some help to you.

Harry's head snapped up at her last comment, "Wait what, Salazar's journal?"

Lily nodded slightly amused at the shocked expression on Harry's face, "Yes." Lily got up and walked over to a section of wall that disappeared when she approached to be replaced by a walk in cupboard with bookshelves on each side. Harry blinked before he was out of his seat and standing at the entrance in a fraction of a second.

Lily turned around from picking out the journal to see Harry standing at the doorway, his mouth open in shock. She giggled at him, the sound brought Harry round and he snapped his jaw shut. "The First room." Harry breathed out, Lily nodded, "Yes, the Founder's personal library, deep in the foundations of the castle."

"We're in the foundations of the castle?" Harry asked her, as he started to browse the books on the first shelf.

"Yes and no." Was Lily's reply, as she slapped his hand away from a book, he glared at her, "You can study them to your heart's content later, we have a dark lord to deal with."

Harry pouted but nodded and reluctantly returned to the armchairs, 'some of those battle magic books looked interesting.' He sat down wearily on the armchair, "What did you mean by yes and no?"

Lily gave him a look, "You're trying to stall from talking about Voldemort." When Harry did not bother replying, she continued, "Fine; the room of requirement as you call it, does not really exist, it is made up of pure magic which is why it can become anything it is not bound by physical restraints. This room is real and is buried deep underneath the castle's foundations, the room of requirement acted as a passage to bring you here; I can use the ambient magic from the ward stone to manifest in this room."

Harry stared at her for a few minutes, before blinking several times, "Ok… Can you not appear in the room of requirement?"

Lily nodded, "I can, but I can't manifest."

Harry frowned, "Whats the difference between appearing and manifesting?"

Lily smiled as she got up and walked over to him, "You didn't notice earlier, but…" She reached out and grabbed his hand; she turned it over a few times, and planted a kiss on it, before dropping it back down and returning to her seat.

Harry stared between Lily and his hand for a minutes, "Oh, manifest means you can, what physically interact?"

Lily nodded, "Right then, now that that is out of the way; Voldemort."

Harry nodded wearily, "Voldemort. You mentioned that he will continue to live in his spirit form, can his spirit form be killed?"

Lily sighed, "I do not know, there have only been a handful of wizards who have ever made those vile things, and only two of them have ever become spirits."

"Salazar and Tom." Harry replied, Lily nodded, "Yes"

"Well if we can't kill his spirit form, as much as I'm confident-ish that I could win a duel between the two of us, I'd rather not bring him back to a body, if there is a way around it. Maybe we can contain his spirit in something and then toss that through the veil of death?" Harry suggested.

Lily gave a half nod, "That might work, and I agree I don't think you should bring him back to a body if you don't have to. You'll have to do some research to find something that can hold him."

Harry grimaced, "Yay, fun."

"From what Gideon saw when you have a goal you can be quite motivated when it comes to research." Lily told him with a slightly smug smile.

Harry scowled at her, "That was because… Argh fine, I will start researching. In the meantime what do we do?"

Lily looked out of the window, "I don't like him in me, before you ask why I can't simply banish him, from the grounds, that power has unfortunately been lost over the years, as the wards of fallen into disrepair."

Harry stood up and walked over to the ward stone, "I thought I sensed something was wrong with it." He turned back to face her, "When was the last active heir?" Lily gave him a grimace, "Huh that long eh?"

Lily nodded, "357 years. Rowena's last heir, she died childless."

Harry nodded, "What about my grandparents? Weren't they active heirs?"

Lily shook her head, "As is written in the charter, if two heirs are in the school at the same time, then neither will be chosen. Your grandfather, Charlus potter, and Tom Riddle were here at the same time; as such, I choose neither of them. Before then the two families were home-schooled, I do not believe that Charlus was ever told of his ancestry."

Harry nodded slowly, "Oh that makes sense." 'She would make a much better history teacher then Binns', "How have the wards been updated when the ward stone was inaccessible?"

Lily smiled, "You are learning. The wards that headmaster's and mistresses have placed have been woven on top of the existing wards, like adding extra layers to the wall of a crumbling building, yes you make the walls stronger, but the building as a whole is still weak."

Harry nodded, "Did you see in my memories about the ward upgrades in my sixth year?"

Lily frowned as she nodded, "Yes, I'm not certain how they were done, I can only theorise that secondary ward stones were placed in the grounds, giving Hogwarts two sets of wards."

Harry nodded absently, "You know with some time, and a fair bit of reading, I could probably get these back up to full strength."

Lily nodded, "I know, I was going to ask you to do so. As well as add a few improvements, I'm sure the headmaster and the marauders the four of you could come up with quite a few improvements to them as well, especially with access to Rowena's original notes."

Harry laughed, "I'm sure we could. I had better send off for some more notebooks if I'm going to be doing research, on the Tom problem as well as the wards."

"And your new spells." Lily added, "I also saw some of the idea's you had about those communication mirrors, with the knowledge available here, and in the main library I'm sure between you, you could come up with something useful."

Harry smiled at her, "That would be great, now then, I think it is time to take my leave, Dumbledore is probably wondering where I am."

Lily nodded "Most likely, when he asks you about why the wards have changed, it is because he was never the master of the wards, all headmasters and mistresses after Godric, have only ever been ward-keepers. You are now the ward-master."

Harry blinked, "Oh great. I'm guessing it says somewhere in the charter that I can't transfer the control back to…"

Lily was already shaking her head, "He can't have control, and he only monitored them before hand, now all he can monitor is that they are there."

Harry sighed, "Ok then, looks like I have a fair bit of reading to do, good thing I already know the class work." Lily smiled at him, Harry asked her a question, "I don't suppose there is a copy of the charter lying-" Harry cut of mid sentence as a pedestal appeared against the back wall opposite to the library, he cautiously approached it. Resting on top was an ancient looking book; it looked so old Harry was afraid it would fall apart if he touched it, the glittering gold letters on the front read-

_Charter of Hogwarts  
__By Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and Salazar Slytherin  
__992 A.D._

Harry gulped. "I think I'll leave that be for now. I have enough to be getting on with." Harry turned towards Lily, "Lily, thank you for your time and your answers, as well as your questions." Harry wandlessly summoned the book she had gotten from the library earlier.

_Magic's of the Mind  
__By Salazar Slytherin_

Lily nodded at him "I expect you shall be back to start going through these books for your little and big projects." Harry nodded at her. "Well then, there are several other things I would like to discuss with you, but Voldemort is the top priority. Good night Harry."

Harry gave her a smile, "Understood. Goodnight Lily." Harry seemed to be fighting a battle with himself, before he walked over to her and hugged her, Lily rather shocked, took a second to realise what he had done, and wrapped her arms around him.

They broke apart and Harry made towards the door, the book safely away in his hidden pocket, as he reached the handle, "Oh Harry." He turned round back to face Lily and asked the question with his eyes, "Would you mind taking Dumbledore down to the chamber and dealing with Salazar's pet tonight? I can't sleep easy knowing that that thing is down there."

Harry froze, the memory of Ginny down in the chamber came tumbling through his occlumency shields, and he ruthlessly squashed it down. He looked up at her; he gave her a stiff nod. She gave him a sad smile, "Thank you Harry."

He nodded again and turned to leave, as he touched the handle, he half turned "Wait, you can sleep?"

Lily just gave him a smile, "It was a figure of speech. But the point it makes still stands."

Harry nodded again, "Goodnight Lady Hogwarts."

"Goodnight Master Potter and good luck with _it_."

* * *

A/N – Well I hope you enjoyed it, I know it is a little on the shorter side, but I wanted to keep this and the next part separate. The next part is already mostly half done, so it should not take long, when I find the time


	17. C 16 : Truths & Changes

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Ta da, here we are then, I hope you like this chapter, if you do not please be gentle.

* * *

**Truths & Changes  
**

Harry checked his watch as he left the room and decided to go via the hospital wing and borrow himself three doses of Invigoration Draught before he made his way to the headmaster's office. He had decided it was not late enough to warrant using his time-turner, as he wanted to use it as sparingly as possible, he had seen what happened to Hermione when she used it repeatedly; he still shook his head at the absurdity of giving her one when she was in her third year.

He approached the gargoyle outside the headmaster's office, but before he could even start guessing the password, it simply moved aside, "Right, master of the castle." Harry muttered under his breath as he walked up the spiral staircase.

He waited with his hand hovering in front of the door waiting for Dumbledore to call him in; he frowned when no call came, and he slowly pushed the door open, and struggled to supress his laughter at the sight in front of him. The headmaster was slumped over on his desk, one hand clutching the bowl of lemon drops to his chest, his head resting on the other one, and snoring lightly.

"_Good morning young one."_

Harry's head snapped to bright red bird, _"Fawkes."_

Fawkes commented on the undertone in Harrys greeting, _"You are angry at me."_

Harry did not reply he just glared at the phoenix; the only sound in the room was the soft flutter of Fawkes's breathing, and the headmaster's light snoring. Eventually Fawkes got tired of the staring match, in which he was struggling to stay in, and asked, _"Why are you angry at me?"_

Harry snorted, _"You could have explained what you meant about my phoenix nature!"_ Harry took a breath it was very hard to yell angrily mentally. _"I do not like having information that could be beneficial to me and others, kept from me. Thanks to him,"_ Harry gestured to the still sleeping form of the headmaster, _"I have had information kept from me most of my life, no more. If you know something that can help me, then you will tell me."_

Fawkes gave a mournful trill, _"I understand your anger and your anguish my young friend; he has had no one to answer to for so long. I will aid you with unlocking your phoenix-self, and do what I can to help you in general, you need only ask."_

Harry smiled at him and whispered a reply "Thank you."

Harry turned his attention back to the headmaster, he cocked his head to the side as he decided how to wake him up, he smiled predatory as he waved his hand above the headmaster and a floating ball of water appeared contained by an invisible force. Harry quickly cast some protection charms on the parchment on the desk with his other hand, before dropping the water on Dumbledore's head.

"AAHHH" Dumbledore leaped up and snapped off a high-powered disarmer straight at Harry, who batted it straight back at the headmaster with a flick of his hand. Harry was rather shocked when Dumbledore stumbled back into his chair from the force of Harry's returned spell and watched as the old wizard stared dumbstruck at the Elder Wand spinning through the air, before being snatched by Harrys waiting hand.

The only sound in the room was the steady drip from the water to the floor, Harry eventually broke it, "Morning Albus. Did I wake you up?"

Dumbledore was still staring at the Elder Wand in Harry's hand, Harry spun the wand around and offered it handle first to the headmaster. Dumbledore shook his head to clear it before he spoke, "Good morning Harry, yes you did wake me up, my apologies for attacking you, but-"

"Don't worry about it Albus, anybody other than my wife waking me up, gets a powerful stinging hex straight to the head."

Dumbledore winced, "I will keep that in mind Harry, but I must still apologise, not only for attacking you but for not being awake when you came in, though I must admit I was expecting you earlier."

Harry heard the subtle questioning tone that he used, "I was having another discussion that went on longer than I was expecting." Harry waved the Elder Wand in front of the headmaster, still being held handle first, "What are we going to do about this?"

Dumbledore sighed as he slumped ever so slightly in his chair, he looked up to meet Harry's questioning glance, "Keep it. It has not worked properly for me for months now anyway. I suspect it already recognised you as it's, I suppose half-master would be an appropriate term, when you arrived back here."

Harry nodded slowly, "Are you sure?"

Dumbledore sighed again and nodded, "Yes, besides you are going to need it do duel Tom."

Harry frowned, "Ah, Ollivander did owl you I see." Harry gave a chuckle at Dumbledore's nod, "Yes me and Tom have brother wands, from Fawkes." Harry gave the phoenix a nod, as he trilled out a soft note, before seeming to settle down to sleep. "But…"

"But?" Dumbledore questioned.

"There have been some changes to the plan."

Dumbledore nodded "I had suspected that your plan would need some changes based on the changes that have happened."

Harry nodded to the old man; he was smart, "Yeah. If we destroy all of his Horcruxes, and remove him from his current host, he will not die."

Dumbledore sat up straight in alarm, "Are you certain of this? Where did you get this information?"

Harry nodded grimly, "Yes I am certain, and as for the information source, what was the reason you asked me here tonight?"

Dumbledore crinkled his brow in thought, "Because the wards have changed, I assumed because of your presence." At Harry's nod, he continued, "The only way I could think that the wards would shift control would be if…" Dumbledore stared at Harry with dawning comprehension on his face.

"Yes, I am the heir to Godric Gryffindor." Harry replied; the headmaster leant back in his chair in shock. "And for the record Albus, you never had control over the wards. You only ever monitored them."

Dumbledore nodded, "It is merely a figure a speech, but I could toggle the Anti-apparition ward within the great hall, so I had some control."

Harry frowned and nodded, "Hmm, true; that must count as part of the teaching aspect of the school, and besides you still can't apparate out of the hall when it's lowered, can you?"

Dumbledore nodded, "But back to the topic at hand, what is your information source… or should that be who?"

Harry smiled at him and nodded, "Yep, Lady Hogwarts herself. She says hello, and has a favour to ask of us both later."

Dumbledore's brows shot up in surprise, "Ok… you said after he has left his current host, meaning that you know who the current one is."

Harry sighed and nodded, "Yes I do."

Dumbledore frowned at him "You're not going to tell me."

Harry shook his head, "I'm sorry Albus, but I won't tell you."

"Why not Harry?" It was said in a gentle tone, but Harry could hear the subtle undercurrent of a threat in the voice.

Harry's eyes hardened as they locked with the Headmasters and started to glow slightly "Because Albus, you are a control freak. And as you already know, I do not trust you; not completely."

"I only want to help you Harry." Dumbledore said in a defeated tone.

Harry relaxed slowly, "Then you will do as you are told, Voldemort is _my_ enemy, as such this is _my_ war, and I will fight both _it _and _him_, _**my way!**_"

Dumbledore just sat there for several minutes as the sound of his shiny trinkets slowly coming to stop rattling permeated the room. "Very well Harry, I will do what I can to aid you, and not get in your way, you have my word."

Harry had brought his emotions under control, vividly recalling the last time he lost his temper in this room, he glanced at the snoozing portrait of Phineas Black, and gave a small shudder before squashing the memories back down. He nodded at the headmaster once, getting a small smile from the old man. Harry realised that he still held the Elder Wand in his hand, he waved it at his right wrist, hoping that its power would accomplish what he needed, his wand-holster became visible before a duplicate seemingly grew out of it, he attached the duplicate to his left wrist and put the wand away 'two down, one left.'

Dumbledore gave him another small smile, and a little twinkle in his eyes, "Well then Harry, before we do the favour that Lady Hogwarts has asked of us, may I ask for some details of the new plan for Tom?"

Harry regarded Dumbledore silently for a few moments, before nodding slowly "Before we start that, do you know of any way to get Ginny here earlier, especially as she is listed as Ginny Potter on the register."

Dumbledore blinked as he leant back and steepled his fingers in thought, "There is a way, but I'm not sure if Mr and Mrs Weasley will allow it, unless you tell them the truth."

Harry was already shaking his head, "No, Arthur may be able to handle it, but Molly never could, even when Bill was married with two kids and a third on the way, she still treated him like a child. She can never be told."

Dumbledore nodded, "I agree she is…" Harry just nodded and smirked knowingly.

The headmaster gave a small chuckle before resuming his thoughtful pose, "If you can find a way to convince them both without telling them the truth, then you could get Sirius to emancipate you, as a legal adult and lord, you could then marry and she could come to Hogwarts tomorrow. But as she would still be considered a minor it would need her parents approval, and while I'm sure they like you…"

"Yeah, Molly will never go for marrying off her ten year old daughter… unless." Harry stopped talking as his brow furrowed.

"Unless, what? Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry smiled up at him, "Unless we get married by accident."

Dumbledore blinked at him, "I'm afraid you have lost me Harry."

Harry chuckled, "It's simple; the next time we meet, something happens and there is a powerful burst of _accidental_ magic, followed by a conveniently timed owl from Gringotts congratulating us."

Dumbledore blinked before he too chuckled, "Are you sure you are in the right house Harry?" said wizard just smirked at him, he chuckled again, "That could work, but it would need to be a very powerful burst of magic."

Harry nodded, "That I can do, getting into a situation to do it, is what is going to take some creative thinking. I'm guessing I can't leave school grounds on the weekends to go and see her?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "It would be against the rules whilst you are still a minor, unless you had approval from your guardian."

At that, Harry grinned at him, "Ok then, I'm sure we can come up with something for the weekend. I should be able to survive a week without her." Harry finished in a quiet voice.

Dumbledore nodded sadly, "I'm sure we can. Now then, the plan?"

Harry frowned at the headmaster, who gave him an ever so slightly sheepish look, "The current plan, most of which I made up on the way over here, is to start destroying his Horcruxes, as soon as possible. There a two that we will deal with tonight, after our _little_ errand for Lily."

"Wait Lily?" Dumbledore interrupted Harry.

Harry sighed and nodded, "Yeah the avatar of Hogwarts choose the form of my mother, and requested to be called Lily."

Dumbledore nodded and gestured for Harry to continue; Harry gave a small frown at the gesture but let it pass, "Whilst we are destroying them I will be working on a practical research project, when both of those things are completed, we will go after him. In the meantime, you will use the Mirror of Erised as the final obstacle for the stone, 'only someone who wants to find the stone, and not use it, will be able to get it out.'"

Dumbledore smiled, "Brilliant."

Harry smiled at him, "It took you almost six months to think of that last time. If you do not mind I will also place a ward or two of my own around the final chamber, and I would highly suggest an age-line across the door. Honestly how many students do you think went straight to that corridor after the feast to see what it was all about?"

Dumbledore frowned and said, "I had thought the warning would have been sufficient."

Harry saw something in the headmaster's eyes that gave him a very bad feeling in the back of his mind, he filed the thought away for later, "Well it isn't, and I can guarantee that at the very least the Weasley twins will have taken a look."

Dumbledore nodded "Very well, we can do that all before or after our errand, speaking of which; what is it?"

Harry smiled at him "Our errand is to deal with Salazar's pet."

Dumbledore's next words dropped the smile straight from Harry's face, "Oh the Basilisk."

Dumbledore instantly knew he had said the wrong thing as he watched Harry's face go from blank shock to pure fury, and a cold wind swept through the office sending the parchments scattered across his desk flying, and waking Fawkes from his slumber. Before he could even begin to talk, Harry was on his feet the chair flying backwards, his eyes blazing and raw magical lightening started arcing across his body and to the ground, there were waves of magic pouring from Harry. The sheer amount of magic in the room awoke the portraits that did nothing but stare on in shock, as Harry's body began to glow with a golden aura of light, and slowly seep across the ground covering the scorch marks from where the arcs of magic sparked off Harry, before beginning to swirl around Harry in a vortex.

"**YOU KNEW!**"

Harry's voice, laced with raw power shattered everything breakable in the office, as he slowly advanced on the pale-faced headmaster.

Dumbledore knew that Harry was powerful, but to have him approaching whilst generating a visible aura had the old wizard very glad he went to the loo before he dozed off, he had stood up and moved to the side of his chair and raised his hands in surrender as he slowly started backing away from the enraged young wizard.

"Harry please,"

Harry cut him off, "**YOU LET THAT THING ROAM FREE THROUGH THIS CASTLE FOR EIGHT MONTHS!**"

Dumbledore's face lost what little blood it had left in it as he started sweating in real fear; he knew he would have to speak very carefully. Even with Harry's aura still visibly swirling around him, he could see that Harry was still holding onto the full extent of his power, and that terrified the headmaster, if he said the wrong thing, they would most likely be cleaning what was left of him from the stonework for years to come.

"Harry I," Dumbledore stopped fearing an interruption when none came he gave an inward sigh of relief that he would at least have an opportunity to talk. "Harry, I would have dealt with it myself, but I had no means of accessing the chamber, nor did I know where it was-"

Dumbledore stopped talking as he was lifted up and pinned to the wall, he stared into the green eyes that were blazing so much Dumbledore had to squint to see his face, he was about to try speaking again, when he let out a gasp of pain as a brutal legilimency attack battered into his mental shields. Despite the force of the attack, they held, but he was severely weakened, he knew they would not hold for long. He was about to beg Harry to stop when the second attack came even more powerful than the first, it shattered his weakened shields.

Before Harry could start going through the Headmaster's mind, two screeching voices interrupted him.

"_**HARRY STOP.**_"

Harry recognised the voices as Lily and Fawkes, _"__Why should I? He knew about that thing and did nothing about it, he could have easily found the entrance to the chamber, and as for means of accessing it, he had me!__"_

"_Harry._" it was just Lily's voice this time, as Fawkes had begun singing a soothing song. _"You cannot punish a man for actions he has yet to commit."_

"He may not have committed them yet, but the fact is he would have committed them had I not come back." Harry spoke aloud, he was too angry to maintain his mental speaking voice.

"_Harry, I can understand your need for answers, but ripping them from his mind will not do either of you any good. Please Harry, if you must have answers, use truth serum."_ Lily pleaded with him, as Fawkes continued to sing, Dumbledore was still disorientated from Harry's mental assault.

Harry closed his eyes and managed to calm himself enough that his aura faded slightly, "Dobby!"

Dobby appeared with a small pop and froze, "M…Ma… Master?" Harry forced his magic down as he tried to calm himself even more, he knelt down level with the frightened house-elf, "Dobby, I need some Veritaserum, now." Harry was still too angry to be polite to the little elf who nodded fearfully before disappearing with a pop.

Harry had righted his chair and bound Dumbledore to it, as well as warding the room, before Dobby got back holding a small bottle. Harry was calm enough to be polite this time, "Thank you Dobby, I didn't mean to scare you."

Dobby nodded slightly relieved, "W…Will there be anything else Master Harry Sir?" Harry shook his head and the elf popped away, Harry woke up the headmaster, and gave him five drops of the truth serum.

"Your name?"

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."

Harry tried to pick a good question to make sure the truth serum was working, "What do you see in the Mirror of Erised?"

"I see my family healthy and whole by my side, and a kind and gentle Gellert holding my hand." Dumbledore spoke in the monotone of the truth serum.

'Ok then.' Harry thought to himself, 'where do I start?'

"Do you know where the entrance to the chamber of secrets is?"

"No." Harry breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Why did you not place an age-line across the third floor corridor?"

"I didn't think one was necessary."

Harry blinked at the old wizard, as shock started to replace the still bubbling anger in him, "WHAT!"

"I did not think that an age-line was necessary. I had told the students to stay away from the corridor if they did not wish to die a painful death."

Harry stared at the old wizard in shock, "And you honestly thought that a simple warning about a painful death would keep them away?"

"Yes."

Harry's magic started swirling again but he suppressed it, now that he had the headmaster here, he was going to get answers to many questions that had bugged him for years, annoyingly he could not ask all of the ones he wanted to as this Dumbledore had not made those decisions yet, but there were some that he could ask.

"Why did you place me with the Dursleys, and why did you send Hagrid to deliver my letter?" Harry asked.

"I placed you with your family because as your aunt was a blood relative, your mother's sacrifice allowed me to place blood-wards over the house, that kept you safe from Voldemort and any witch or wizard with intent to harm you. I sent Hagrid to get you because Professor McGonagall was busy with her part of the protections for the stone."

Harry's shoulders sagged in relief, "What about Sirius, did you know, or at least suspect he was innocent all those years ago?"

"No, I cast the charm upon him myself."

"Are you certain that it was Sirius or could it have been Pettigrew under polyjuice potion?" Harry asked.

"I never checked for potion use."

"Of course you didn't." Harry muttered under his breath. "Have you committed any crimes against me?"

"Yes."

Harry's eyes blazed again as his aura started to reappear, Fawkes started singing louder as Harry asked "What crimes?"

"I defied your parents' wishes in placing you with the Dursley's and I failed to return your father's cloak when I should have." Dumbledore spoke.

Harry's aura relaxed, "That's it?"

"Yes."

Harry breathed another sigh of relief, "Why didn't you question the victim of the last Basilisk attack?"

"Because she was dead."

If Harry was not still extremely angry he would have rolled his eyes at that answer, "Why did you not question her ghost?"

"It never occurred to me."

Harry blinked at that answer, before he frowned, "How did you know it was a Basilisk?"

"With the monster being of Slytherin's origin and something only his heir could control, it would undoubtedly have been a snake, the only breed capable of living for that long is the king of serpents."

Harry conjured a beanbag with a wave of his hand and he collapsed down in to it, the last remnants of his earlier anger leaving him, "Did you know how the Dursley's treated me?" Harry asked in a very small voice.

"No."

Harry closed his eyes and slumped further into the beanbag, "Why did you never check up on me?"

"They are your family, there was no need to."

Harry wanted to get angry again, to destroy the old man in front of him, but something held back his anger, "Why did you hire Snape? And why do you allow his _teaching_ methods and _bullying_ to go unchecked?"

"I hired Severus because Horace was retiring and I needed to keep him close by for his role as a spy. Severus is a strict individual who believes in perfection; that would reflect in his teaching methods. Severus is not a bully."

Harry blinked before dropping his head into his hands, "Have you ever observed one of Snape's _lessons_, or have you ever bothered to listen to the complaints about his behaviour?"

"No. The complaints only came from those not in Slytherin, to maintain his role as a loyal death eater Severus must appear to be prejudiced towards his own house, so I ignored the complaints."

Harry leaned his head back as he exhaled a breath, with all of the answers that Dumbledore had given, Harry now knew why the Headmaster had made all those questionable decisions in the past-future, and realised that he should probably apologise for his attack.

"Dobby." The elf appeared by his side, they were already at eye-level, "Yes Master Harry Sir?" Harry gave him a small smile, "Hi Dobby, can you get me the antidote to Verti-" Before Harry could finish asking the question Dobby was already holding out a small bottle, Harry gave him a small laugh, "Thanks Dobby."

Dobby smiled and nodded before popping away, he liked it much better when his master was not glowing.

Harry sighed as he administered the antidote, 'this should be a fun conversation' Harry thought grimly.

With the antidote administered, Harry decided to realise the binds on Dumbledore, but kept his backside stuck to the chair. The two wizards just looked at each other in silence, Fawkes's singing had stopped and he had moved over to land on Harry's knee. Harry absently stroked his feather's as the two of them continued to stare at each other, neither one of them knowing just how to start.

After what felt like an eternity, and judging from the pink starting to peek over the horizon Harry guessed it had been at least an hour, he spoke, "The muggles have a military directive about relieving someone of their command, if they are deemed medically unfit. Whilst you may not be medically unfit, a lot of your decisions and actions over the years, and not just the ones that you haven't made yet, can be called into question, even your inactions raise some doubts as to your ability to…" Harry sighed, "Your ability to perform your duties."

Dumbledore just hung his head, Harry continued, "Knowing that you are making, quite frankly idiotic and enormous mistakes, and have been making them for years, I…I can't in good conscience allow you to keep your positions of power."

Dumbledore's head snapped up at that, "Harry-"

Harry cut him off again, "You have three very powerful and important positions, because of the amount of time and thought they take up, you have made a lot of mistakes in all three of them over the past decade. Pick one of them Albus, concentrate on just one, and make it the best you can, you can easily, occasionally consult on the others, but one is all you can handle without making mistakes, and even then, there should probably be someone checking over your decisions."

Dumbledore had tears in his eyes as he looked back up at Harry, who simply stared back at him with the first trace of compassion in his eyes since he entered the office. Dumbledore nodded, realising that Harry was right, "I haven't made that many mistakes in my other two positions."

Harry sighed as he shook his head, "Two words. Death-Eaters."

Dumbledore closed his eyes, and nodded slowly, he opened them again when Harry spoke, "As for the ICW, from what I read in the prophet, until we started dealing with our problems they were on the verge of chucking us out."

Dumbledore nodded again, "Yes, though how the prophet got away with printing something like that is unknown to me."

Harry smirked at him, "The prophet has been under new management, for over a week now."

Dumbledore blinked, before rolling up his sleeve to wipe at his eyes, Harry saw this and conjured a handkerchief in front of the old wizard who gave a small smile and took it. After cleaning himself up, he spoke to Harry, "You bought the prophet." It was not a question so Harry did not bother answering he just gave a predatory grin.

Dumbledore gave a weak chuckle, before slumping back into the chair, he sighed before speaking his voice almost breaking with the emotion in it, "I will step down as Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock, my main duty should be to Hogwarts and her students, who…" The headmaster sighed, looking all of his years, "Whom I have failed, all I can do from here on out, is to try and rectify what I have failed at over the years."

Harry gave him a smile and a nod, "Ok then, to be honest I was to suggest that you stay on as headmaster. While the ICW is not of much concern at the moment, the Wizengamot is, we would need a decent chief."

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, perhaps Madam Longbottom?"

Harry frowned, "Actually depending on what Neville says, she may find herself with alternative accommodation in the not too distant future."

"Oh?" Dumbledore questioned.

Harry nodded, "Yes, Neville, in some ways, has had a worse childhood than mine, better in a lot of ways, but much worse in some; and given that mine was worse than Tom's."

Dumbledore closed his eyes, as guilt built up within him again, "I-"

"Don't apologise Albus, I know why you did it. You always see and believe in the very best of people, which alone explains half of your actions. The other half can be explained by what Fawkes here said." Harry gestured to the phoenix still resting on his knee, "You have had no one to answer to for so long."

Dumbledore still shook his head, "Be that as it may Harry, there is nothing I can do, expect try and make things as good as they can be from here onwards." He sighed again, "If Augusta is out, for said reasons, then what about Sirius; though he hasn't claimed it he does have a seat, as do you for that matter."

Harry just blinked at him, "Your kidding, right?"

Dumbledore shook his head, "No Harry I am not kidding, Sirius is on our side, he would be able to work with us, in as you put it a while back, clearing out the bigoted and prejudiced laws. His wrongful incarceration means he has a considerable number of supporters among the members, he-"

At this point Harry interrupted the headmaster's speech "He's emotional, immature, hot-headed _and a_ _Marauder,_ and you want to get him elected as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot? You are not senile, _you are insane_!"

Dumbledore smiled at Harry, his first real smile for a while, "Despite those reasons, he is still a good man, and with a little help from-" At Harry's large snort, Dumbledore corrected himself, "With a _lot_ of help from his friends and advisors, he would be able to do a lot of good."

Harry stared at the old wizard for several minutes, "And what if he says no?"

Dumbledore's eyes started twinkling again, "As you said Harry, he is a Marauder, why would he say no?"

Harry groaned and dropped his head into his hands, "We are doomed."

Dumbledore chuckled, before sobering himself, "Now what Harry?"

Harry sat up on his beanbag and let Fawkes fly off to his perch, "Lily said that she wanted to talk to me about a few other things, but that Voldemort was the top priority; I would hazard a guess that what she wants to talk about is the changes she wants made to the school."

Dumbledore nodded, having half expected that, "I see. Perhaps at the end of the week? I would rather not leave…" He sighed again, "I don't want my mistakes to linger any longer then they have to.

Harry gave him a sad smile, "Ok, agreed. As for us, whats say we forget about what has happened between us in here, and start again?" A shudder went down Dumbledore's spine before he nodded, Harry glanced at his watch, and held back his groan "Well we have a couple of hours before breakfast starts, shall we deal with those two Horcruxes and the Basilisk via the third floor? What a fun morning this should be…"

As Dumbledore nodded again Harry stood up and vanished his beanbag, he was repairing some of the damage he had done to the office, when the Headmaster coughed behind him "Erm, Harry?"

Harry turned round and collapsed onto the floor in hysterical laughter, "Harry! Please, a little help?"

The headmaster had managed to stand up but he was still stuck to the chair, Harry just laughed harder before flicking his wrist in the headmaster's direction. He heard the loud crash as the chair dropped to the floor and he reined in his laughter, "All set Albus?"

Dumbledore gave Harry a small glare, before straightening out his robes, "No, I need my old wand."

Harry sobered completely and gave a hesitant nod, before turning around to continue his repairs as the headmaster went through the hidden back doorway into his private quarters.

When he returned a couple of minutes later, he found Harry waiting for him holding out a potion vial, at the headmaster's raised eyebrows Harry spoke, "It's an Invigoration Draught, it is rather early, and whilst you may have had a nap, I haven't."

The headmaster nodded before taking the vial and knocking it back, he looked around his office, and to his shock saw that most of it was fixed, though there were still some scorch marks on the floor.

Harry saw his gaze and commented, "Might I suggest a new rug?" Dumbledore gave him a nod, and a gesture as if to say 'lead on.'

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A/N – There we go then, the next chapter is already half done, so with some luck (and some good health, stupid cold) it should be up by next weekend


	18. C 17 : A Stone & a Snake

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Here we go, a bit later than i hoped, read the A/N at the bottom for the why. Enjoy.

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**A Stone & a Snake**

The two wizards left the tower and proceeded to the seventh floor, when Harry stopped in a hallway with just a tapestry of dancing trolls, Dumbledore turned to ask Harry why he had stopped but held his tongue when he saw that Harry was pacing the corridor, "Harry?"

Harry ignored him as he paced for the third time, he smiled as the door appeared, he turned round and in a dramatic gesture, "Albus allow me to present to you, 'The Room of Requirement.'"

After the shock had worn off, the two of them entered the room, Harry's ability to sense the horcrux was hampered by the insane amount of magic that made up the room, and the junk that was piled up within it, but after nearly an hour of searching and half a dozen dead-ends, before he found it. He could feel its darkness more clearly now, although he noted it was weaker than the presence of the diary, which he had safe and sound in a magically sealed box from the goblins.

He let the diadem float in front of him, as he retrieved the box from his expanded pocket; he placed the required drop of blood onto the lock, and waited as it sprung open. He levitated the diadem over it and ignoring Dumbledore's gasp of recognition dropped it into the box where it landed with a thud against the diary; he closed the box and put it back away.

When Harry turned around to head out, he saw that Dumbledore was frowning at him, "Albus?"

"I noticed it earlier but I did not comment at the time; you have not used a wand all evening." Albus's comment had a small hint of curiosity to it.

Harry stayed silent for a moment before he nodded, "Yes. I can do nearly every spell without my wand, the ones I cannot do are the ones that have a strong emotional component. In addition, my spells are more powerful and more accurate when I use a wand. It is an ability I have kept very secret, only Ginny knew, and she, Sirius, Remus and you are the only ones that know now."

Dumbledore nodded, and gave Harry a smile, "I thank you for trusting me with this ability Harry."

Harry just nodded at him; he did not want to break their fragile relationship by pointing out that it was only by accident that he revealed the ability.

The two of them remained silent as Harry led them to the third floor corridor, Harry opened the door with a wave of his hand, before taking out his wand, and with a single wave conjured a harp that played a gentle melody, Fluffy was sound asleep within seconds.

Harry turned to ask Dumbledore to place the age line when he saw that the headmaster was looking at him with eyes twinkling at full, Harry raised a single eyebrow at him, the headmaster chuckled before he spoke, "You have discovered the secret of magic."

Harry frowned at him before realising what he was on about, "Oh, you mean that it is mostly will and intent, over movements and incantations?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, it wasn't until I was in my late forties that I uncovered that little secret of magic, and I am still learning to use it even now, you appear to have a natural gift for it."

Harry gave him a small sheepish smile, "Thanks." He coughed, "Erm the Age-line? I've never drawn one."

Dumbledore nodded and withdrew his old wand, Harry gave it a quick look, before stepping back and letting the headmaster work, "What age would you recommend Harry?"

"Nineteen, that will ensure that even the seventh years can't get past on the last day of the year."

Dumbledore nodded and began muttering under his breath as a white flowing line began appearing in a semi-circle around the outside of Fluffy's door.

Harry frowned and stepped forward when the headmaster lowered his wand, "It doesn't look finished."

"It isn't, I wanted to check with you what the action would be for crossing it."

"Oh, nothing too drastic, I think just a very mild flinging hex to send them backwards, that should get the point across." Harry smiled up at the headmaster, who chuckled before completing the line.

Harry tilted his head to one side, before stepping across the line and turning round to face the headmaster who spoke up, "You think it will recognise you as an adult?"

Harry shrugged, "There is only one way to find out." Harry took a breath and stepped back over the line to join the headmaster next to Fluffy's door. After thirty seconds of nothing happening, Harry nodded, "Well it appears that magic treats me as a 22 year old."

Dumbledore nodded, "So it would seem. The mirror is in an old store room on the second floor."

Harry nodded, he was about to call for Fawkes when he realised that the phoenix had probably gone back to sleep, he frowned, "Albus, do you know the names of any of the Hogwarts elves?"

Dumbledore answered, "Yes the head elf is called Crinky."

Harry blinked, 'who thinks up these names?' "Crinky?"

With a loud pop, the head elf appeared in his Hogwarts tea cosy, "Yes Master Harry Potter Sir, Heir of Godric Gryffindor?"

Harry groaned, "Ok first of, the name is Harry, or if you insist, Harry Sir."

"Yes Master Harry Sir."

Harry groaned again before muttering, "Close enough." He spoke in a louder voice to cover the headmaster's snickers, "Crinky there is a large mirror in a store room on the second floor, near the entrance to the library, could you get some of the elves to bring it here as soon as possible please, and tell them to not look into the mirror?"

Crinky nodded and disappeared with another pop, Harry turned round and glared at the headmaster who was now openly laughing, "Keep it up Albus, in case you've forgotten I have two marauders as guardians, and plenty of magical experience, I can make your life and all the staff's lives a living hell here at Hogwarts, so go on, keep laughing."

Dumbledore sobered immediately and once he saw the gleam in Harry's eyes, he paled, "Harry-"

Before the headmaster could speak, a loud pop sounded behind the pair, who both spun round though only Harry spun with his wand raised, he lowered it at the sight of half a dozen house elves surrounding the mirror. Dumbledore immediately averted his gaze from the mirror; Harry gave him a sad look, before looking at the elves, "Thank you." They all stood up a little bit straighter and nodded before popping away as one.

Harry covered the mirror with a large canvas cover, "It's covered."

Dumbledore turned and shrunk the mirror down to half its size, before levitating it. "Shall we Harry."

The two of them made quick work of the Devil's snare though manoeuvring the mirror through it was tricky, "How on earth did you do this last time!"

Dumbledore chuckled, "With some difficulty I imagine."

They made their way into the next chamber with the flying keys, Dumbledore spoke "Ah yes, Filius's protection… I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave this one to you Harry, it has been many a year since-"

"You coming Albus?"

Dumbledore turned and stopped dead at the sight of Harry standing next to the open door to the next chamber, he looked between the door and the keys several times, "How in the name of Merlin did you open that door without the key?"

Harry winked at him, "Magic."

After Dumbledore had played them across the chess set, in which Harry commented, "Remind me to get you to challenge Ron to a game one day."

Harry stunned the Troll with an over powered stupefy to the head, the final potions puzzle was where it got tricky.

Dumbledore spoke up before they entered the potions chamber, "The potion vial refills after it is drunk, but only once the room is empty, I shall go first, then when the flames this side drop, you can enter and follow me."

Harry nodded at him, and watched as the headmaster quickly disappeared behind a wall of flame, half a minute later, the flames subsided and Harry followed him down to the chamber.

Harry stood back and watched as the headmaster resized the mirror and placed it in the middle of the room, before levitating the stone in front of it and muttering a spell so long Harry lost count of the number of syllables. The stone and mirror glowed a soft blue, before the stone shot towards the mirror and was absorbed into the glass as if it was liquid.

Dumbledore nodded to himself, before turning around to face Harry, "Your turn."

Harry smirked at him and placed half a dozen detection wards across the doorway, and some heavy protective wards around the mirror, he too nodded to himself, "Right then, that should give us warning when he makes an attempt, and keep him occupied long enough for one of us to get down here."

Dumbledore nodded at him, and the two of them made their way out of the third floor, when they reached the still snoring fluffy, Harry vanished the harp before locking the door with a powerful locking charm. Dumbledore smiled at him, "Right then Harry, the Basilisk?"

Harry nodded and started walking towards the second floor, "Can you conjure a rooster?"

Dumbledore blinked at the question, "Yes Harry I can, why, can't you?"

Harry frowned, "No I can't, conjuring animals is all but impossible for me."

Now it was Dumbledore's turn to frown, "Hmm interesting, perhaps it is something about your nature that prevents you?"

Harry faltered mid-step but kept going 'my nature, looks like I have some more questions for Fawkes.' Dumbledore appeared not to notice Harry falter and the pair continued on.

When Harry stopped outside of the girls bathroom Dumbledore was staring at Harry in shock, "Please tell me you are joking Harry?"

Harry just smiled and walked in, 'thank god Myrtle's not here' he walked up to the sink and half-turned back to face the headmaster, "Don't panic."

"_Open."_

Dumbledore flinched back in surprise at the Parseltongue but did not make another sound as the sinks moved aside to reveal the chute to the chamber, Harry tossed a light orb down the chute and jumped down, the headmaster followed shortly afterwards.

When Dumbledore arrived at the bottom Harry was already moving down the chamber, Dumbledore jogged to catch up but faltered when he saw the shed skin that Harry was examining, "Oh Merlin."

Harry turned and gave him a grim smile, "Yep, this is from fifty years ago, when Tom let it out the first time. It is even bigger now. Shall we?"

Harry walked further down, knowing the headmaster would catch up with him shortly, he did and the two of them approached the large door that made the entrance to the main chamber, "Be ready to conjure that rooster if it's in there, and remember keep your eyes closed."

Dumbledore nodded and gripped his wand firmly, he flinched again as Harry opened the door, he waited but heard nothing, until Harry spoke "It's clear."

The two of them made their way into the main chamber, looking around "Remarkable."

"Albus you can ogle the architecture later."

"Sorry Harry."

Harry smiled at him, "I'm gonna summon the snake it will come from the mouth of the statue, be ready the second its head comes out ok?"

At Dumbledore's nod, Harry moved up to face the statue, _"Speak to my Slytherin Greatest of the Hogwarts Four."_

There was the grinding noise of the stone mouth opening, Harry and Dumbledore both looked down, they heard it slithering over stone, and hissing growing louder and louder.

"NOW!"

The rooster appeared and immediately started crowing, the Basilisk shrieked and thrashed for several minutes as Harry and the headmaster backed away, the headmaster kept his rooster crowing, whilst Harry readied his most destructive spells, just in case.

After almost ten minutes, the thrashing and shrieking stopped and there was a loud thud, Dumbledore stopped the crowing a few seconds later. Harry felt around and could not feel the giant serpents' life force, he raised his head and peeked through one eye, he saw the snake lying on the ground in front of the statue, clearly dead.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief, "Its dead." Harry did not wait for the headmaster to vanish his rooster before approaching the Basilisk's open mouth; he summoned the sword of Gryffindor and drew it along one of the fangs, and watched carefully as the dark green venom was quickly absorbed into the blade. He smiled and walked away from the snake to the middle of the chamber, where Dumbledore was still standing staring at the Basilisk, Harry snorted at his look, and withdrew the goblin made box containing the Horcruxes.

The headmaster was brought out of his shock by a shriek of agony; he quickly turned to the source of the noise to see Harry stabbing the diary they had removed from Malfoy manor with the sword. When the shrieking stopped, the headmaster made to approach but stopped himself when the diadem made its way up out of Harry's box, Harry swiped the sword at it, whilst it was still in mid-air, and it clattered to the ground as it began shrieking as well.

When it was over it was near silent in the chamber, with only the occasional drip of water of the ceiling making a noise. Harry placed the two destroyed Horcruxes into his box, and cleaned his sword with a quick water charm, before letting it pop back to nothingness.

Harry turned to the headmaster "Well then two down four to go."

Albus nodded, "Do you require any assistance with the others?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah, one you got by yourself last time, but got yourself injured so we will do that one together, one Sirius can get, one I will deal with myself, and the last one is going to be the hardest to get."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, "Do I want to know where the last one is?"

"Gringotts."

Dumbledore paled, "Oh." He gulped, "How did you get that one last time?"

Harry raised a single eyebrow at the headmaster, before turning round and walking back to the entrance.

The old wizard frowned at Harry's retreating figure, trying to puzzle out what he meant, when the Knut dropped he whispered, "Oh Merlin."

When the two of them reached the bottom of the slide, Harry got out his nimbus from his expanded pocket, and jumped on, he gestured to the headmaster to get on behind him. When the old wizard was safely seated behind Harry, he flew the pair of them up to the bathroom, where thankfully Myrtle was still absent.

When they reached the bathroom Harry put his broom away, he checked the time and was unable to contain his groan at the time, "Well so much for getting some sleep?"

Dumbledore chuckled "Oh you are young Harry I'm sure you can cope with an all-nighter better than I can."

Harry scowled at the chuckling old man, "May I remind you, that _you_ have had a nap, I haven't."

When Dumbledore did not respond to that, Harry huffed, "It's a good thing I took three doses of Invig Draught."

"You stole them?"

Harry frowned at the headmaster, "Borrowed. I'll owl Slughorn later, he can send some replacements."

Dumbledore's steps slowed "Horace Slughorn?"

Harry matched pace with the old wizard, "Yes, neither Sirius nor Remus have the potion skills necessary to make the wolfsbane potion, so I hired Slughorn to make it for him, and then owl it."

"Oh, I see. Why did you not owl Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry stopped and looked up at Dumbledore's inquisitive face; he quickly glanced around, "Not here."

The two of them picked up the pace back to the headmaster's office; they stayed silent during the trip, both of them deep in thought. When they arrived at the office, Dumbledore went round to sit at the desk, whilst Harry conjured another beanbag.

"Severus Snape is a childish, arrogant, prejudiced, bigoted, immature, bully, who is so wrapped up inside his massive ego, that he can't let go of his hatred of a man who has been dead ten years, a man that he had a partial role in getting killed." Harry took a breath, "I respect him as a potions _master_, and grudgingly as a defence _master_, but as a teacher or a human being, no." Harry ran his hand through his hair, as he tried to vocalise his thoughts, "Yes he took enormous risks spying for the light, and in helping to protect the students of Hogwarts, but quite frankly his attitude and actions here at school directly aided in the creation of most of the youngest death-eaters." Harry sighed, "I may have campaigned to get his portrait put up in here, but I do not like the man, and I doubt I ever will."

Harry looked up to the headmaster's pale face, and looked into his blue eyes, their normal twinkle completely absent, "You gave him a second chance all those years ago, now he has a third chance, he won't get another one."

"It was you." Dumbledore sighed, "I thought…" he sighed again, "I thought it was my own word from ten years ago, but it wasn't; it was your word that kept him from a trial last month, wasn't it?"

After a minute of silence, Harry answered, "Yes." He nodded, "So please see to it that he addresses his personality problems and teaching methods, he has a trial under truth serum dangling over his head, and only my word is keeping him from it, the slightest provocation, or insult, or show of favouritism, and one word to Amelia is all it will take."

Dumbledore nodded, "Very well, I shall speak with him today. Amelia must be quite taken with you, to stop a trial based on your word alone."

Harry gave him a small smile, "As much as I may of hated the man, Lucius Malfoy knew what he was doing, the right idea's and a sum of gold in the right place, can do far more help than the most powerful spell."

"Or harm." Dumbledore added.

Harry gave him a nod, "Yes. But you should trust me enough to know that I will never use the influence I have for nefarious purposes."

The old wizard smiled, "I'm glad to hear that Harry." He leaned forward in his chair, and sighed again, "I will send my resignation to the International Confederation of Wizards in the morn-" he chuckled, "After breakfast."

Harry chuckled as well, "Ok. Might I suggest sending an owl to Sirius and Remus about coming to a meeting tomorrow night, to discuss your insane idea and to get some suggestions about Ginny and me?"

Dumbledore frowned, at his idea being called insane, but nodded, "Why not wait till the weekend, then we can deal with those two Horcruxes you mentioned, as well as see about getting your wife here?"

Harry thought about that for a moment, before nodding in agreement, "Ok then." Harry sighed, "Well then, I have some potions to request, and most likely a very upset wife to talk to, so I shall speak to you later."

Dumbledore chuckled but nodded, "Very well, good luck and good morning Harry."

Harry smiled as he stood up and vanished his beanbag, "Good morning Albus."

* * *

Harry decided to put off calling Ginny for a few minutes when he got back to his dorm, he stripped of clothes and made his way to the bathroom for a long hot shower. When he came out a while later, he noticed that the others in the dorm were beginning to stir slightly; he ignored them and went over to his bed and got dressed before climbing in and pulling the hangings closed.

"Ginny."

His wife's anxious face, filled the mirror almost instantly, "Gin, before you start, I haven't slept yet."

That brought Ginny up short, "Whats happened?"

Ginny was not expecting her husband to descend into hysterical laughter, "Harry. Harry. HARRY POTTER!"

Harry sobered himself up enough to choke out between bouts of laughter, "What hasn't happened!"

* * *

A/N – Sorry for the delay, but I've had a stinking cold for a fortnight, its finally fading, but the sale of the flat is going through, so I'm back to house-elf duty, cleaning and packing the place up, so writing time will be sparse, in fact this is most likely going to be the last chapter this year, so I will wish all my wonderful readers a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year now.

P.S. A nice normal-ish cliffy for you :)

P.P.S FYI this chapter takes this story over the length of Philosopher's Stone :)


	19. C 18 : The First Week

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Happy New Year. I am very sorry this has taken so long, but I have moved house, and well anyone of you who have done that knows what it is like, it has been hell. I've also had to contend with my laptop dying on me, as well as some rather severe personal and family issues; but here we are, somewhat later then I had hoped, but nevertheless it is here, Chapter 18 Enjoy.

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**The First Week**

Harry spent almost an hour bringing Ginny up to speed on everything that had happened, she took most of it rather well, thought she did admonish him for going after the Basilisk without more backup, and was looking forward to the weekend to be with 'her Harry' again.

Hedwig was already waiting on the window sill by the time Harry finished talking on the mirror, he smiled at her and wrote a short note for Slughorn. Harry waited in the common room with Neville for the others to come down, when Ron came down, he asked, "Why are we standing here, they're serving breakfast."

Before Harry could do more than glare at Ron, Neville clipped the red head over the back of the head and said, "We are standing here waiting for our friend, Ron." Harry thought Neville's tone was a bit too harsh, but it seemed to get the point across, as Ron looked down suitably chastised.

When Hermione did eventually come down she greeted the three waiting boys with a smile, before joining them as they made their way down to the Great Hall, with Harry leading the way, halfway there Hermione spoke up "This isn't the way the prefect showed us last night."

Harry looked over his shoulder and smiled at her, "No its not, this is a much quicker way that also avoids the trick staircase."

"Oh; how do you know this route?"

Harry had to suppress a wide smile at Hermione's tone; it was the same one she used throughout the time Harry had known her. "That's quite simple, my father with the help of a _couple_ of friends, made a map of the school during their time here. I have it memorised."

"Oh. Can I see it?"

"Please?" She hastily added after seeing Harry frown.

"Maybe later, it is one of only two things I have of my Father's." Hermione nodded slowly at that.

The quartet made their way into the Great Hall, as they did the noise level dropped as everyone stopped and stared at Harry, who just smiled and gave a wave, "Good Morning, I trust everyone slept well?"

The sound of someone choking brought the hall's occupants around from their shock, as they looked at the head table to see Professor McGonagall slapping the headmaster on his back.

Harry just rolled his eyes at Dumbledore's theatrics and used the distraction to sneak away to the Gryffindor table. Once there he snuck a glance at Snape who was shooting him a covert look, Harry was too far away to see what emotion was running through the head of Slytherin's eyes, but it appeared that Dumbledore had indeed talked with his potions master 'hmm, let's see what happens come Friday.'

The others quickly joined him at the table and shortly after he started on his second helping of breakfast the whispers started up again, he had endured far worse, so he just ignored them, and talked about nothing of consequence with the other three, whilst they waited for McGonagall to come down with their timetables.

* * *

Harry's first week went pretty much as he remembered, except that the looks and whispers seemed to be worse then when the war ended. On the second day of the week, a group of fifth year Hufflepuff girls started following him around and giggling, he lost his patience, spun round on the spot, pulsed his aura and made his eyes glow, all of the giggling fan girls left him alone from that point.

Ginny had needed several minutes to calm down when Harry had told her that, for two reasons, one was the anger that other girls were looking at 'her harry' and the other was her laughter at Harry's reaction to them.

Harry had to stifle a laugh when Flitwick fell off his stack of books after calling Harry's name in their first charms lesson. McGonagall gave the same speech in her first lesson as she did last time; Harry managed to suppress his marauder heritage and refrained from doing something to her demonstration of turning her desk into a pig.

Though when it came to the practical side of the lesson, he changed things up; Harry had Ron and Neville either side of him with Hermione the other side of Ron. When McGonagall called for them to start practicing turning their matches into needles, Harry did not bother to do his he turned to help Neville with his. After watching his first two attempts produce nothing Harry spoke up, "Neville the key to transfiguration is visualising. You have to picture in your mind exactly what you want, and then cast the spell."

Neville nodded, both Ron and Hermione stopped and watched as Neville coughed nervously at his audience before concentrating hard and casting the spell. Hermione gasped in shock as the matchstick transformed into an almost perfect needle, all that was missing was a bit of extra shine from the metal.

Ron and Hermione both looked at each other, and nodded before concentrating and casting simultaneously, the were rewarded by almost perfect needles, with Hermione's being the slightly better of the two.

Harry was about to congratulate them, when McGonagall came up to them, she was about to berate Harry for not even attempting it, when she spotted the three almost perfect needles, she looked at Harry "Mr Potter?"

"Yes Professor?"

"Why have you not attempted the spell?"

Harry smiled at her and said, "I was helping these three with their needles first professor, but I'd be glad to demonstrate for you." Harry flicked his wand out and waved it over his matchstick barely whispering the spell.

The professor's shocked gasp brought the classes' attention onto the four Gryffindor's, McGonagall recovered quickly, "Twenty points to Gryffindor Mr Potter, and five each for your three classmates." She gave the four of them a rare smile, before moving away and carrying on with the lesson.

Harry felt someone's eyes on him and he looked up to see Malfoy staring at him with an unreadable expression in his eyes, Harry hid a frown and toyed with the idea of reading the young blondes mind, but decided against it for now, though he did pledge to keep a closer eye on the Slytherin.

Harry had spent some of the free time he had reading Salazar's journal, he found it quite fascinating and had already implemented several of the ideas discussed in the book to his own occlumency shields. He had begun meditating early in the morning with Fawkes, it was painfully slow going but Fawkes said that they were making some progress. Harry had also gone back to the first room and picked up a couple of Rowena's books on enchanting, the arithmancy and runes involved were a bit beyond his current knowledge level so he had started reading all the books he had on the subjects; as such he was being seen as very bookwormy by the rest of the school, and given his prowess in the practical side of magic, Harry decided it best to keep that image up.

After his session's with Fawkes he woke up Ron and Neville for their morning workout. Neville had started to really come out of his shell with the others help, he had taken to the morning workouts like a fish to water, Harry had to keep holding him back for fear he'd strain himself.

Hermione had been a bit hesitant during their first workout but she soon warmed up to the activities, as Harry started them all off slowly before starting to build them up, though Harry did notice that Ron took to staying behind Hermione when they ran in a group.

All of the Gryffindor first years were lined up outside the potions classroom on Friday as they waited for there highly anticipated first lesson with the greasy dungeon bat, there had been rumors circulating around the older years about a small change in Snape's behaviour; Fred and George had returned to the common room one night almost catatonic, as Snape hadn't given them a detention in his class for the first time since there first lesson.

The bat opened the door and wordlessly gestured everyone into the classroom, when he took the register he paused at Harry's name but did not look up and continued on. He gave the same speech as he had the first time round but Harry noticed that it was lacking most of its insults, after the speech he paused again and seemed to gather himself together before taking the class through the basics of potion preparation and safety; something which he had completely missed the first time. Harry gave a small smile at the change in the man, when the class was over neither Gryffindor nor Slytherin had lost any points nor earned a detention, the man even gave an appreciative nod at Harry's table.

Harry made sure he was last to leave and as he did he turned back to see the potions master starring at him, Harry gave him a small nod and left to his next class.

The story of Shape behaving like an actual teacher in a class with Gryffindor's spread like wildfire across the school, by lunchtime most of the students were giving Snape odd looks, a few were giving Harry sneaky looks as well thinking that he had something to do with it. Even the staff were giving the potions master covert looks all except the headmaster who sat there seemingly oblivious to the whole thing.

* * *

A/N - I know this isn't anywhere near as long as you hoped, but I thought that given the length of time between my last update, you might appreciate a small chapter now. I am getting parts of my life sorted out, so that should help, but I am starting a job soon, so that might hinder my progress.

But I want to reassure all of you, I will not abandon this story, **Ever.**


	20. C 19 : A Rat, a Shack & a Cave

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Here you go, I hope you like.

**Please read the A/N's at the bottom.**

* * *

**A Rat, a Shack & a Cave**

Harry was sitting in the Headmasters office on Saturday morning waiting for his godfather and honorary uncle to arrive, Ginny was also present via her mirror, which Harry had removed the privacy charms from and set up to float alongside his head. The headmaster sat up straighter in his chair as the gargoyle informed him of his visitors.

Sirius came in and went straight to Harry and hugged him, Remus quickly followed suit, when they took a step back Harry looked them over, Sirius had lost the paleness and haunted look he picked up from Azkaban, and Remus was looking better and healthier then Harry had ever seen him, "Remus, your new wardrobe is looking good."

Remus gave him a sheepish smile, it had taken some convincing on Harry and Sirius part but Remus had finally accepted the gold they gave him without too many protests. "Thanks Harry. Oh by the way Arthur wanted me to ask you a few questions about some Muggle devices he doesn't understand, he says the prime minister is making him feel like an idiot."

Harry snorted at that. "That's fine Remus, I have already sent Hedwig to him with a list of books he should get and how to get them, with that he should be alright."

A hoot came from the mirror as Hedwig appeared on Ginny's shoulder, "Hedwig arrived at breakfast." said Ginny, as she gave the owl a stroke as it snuggled into Ginny's long red hair, everyone smiled at the owls antics.

"Right then Albus." Sirius started "What's this about?"

Albus smiled at Sirius, he was as blunt and to the point as ever, "Well Sirius there have been some changes to Harry's plan for Voldemort, and we are need of your assistance. Also I have a small favor to ask of you." Harry snorted at the small comment.

This reply was met with two sets of raised eyebrows, that turned quickly to look at Harry, seeing that he had their focus Harry gestured to the two of them to sit down in the armchairs that Albus had conjured before they came in.

Harry got straight to the point, "Do either of-"

Sirius interrupted Harry with a tense voice "Wait, if the plan is changing does that mean we can go after the rat?"

Harry paused and frowned in concentration before glancing at the headmaster then to Ginny over his shoulder "What do you think Gin?"

"I'm not sure, with the way you plan on ki...killing _him_, do you need Pettigrew?" Ginny replied.

Harry was silent for a minute as he thought through the possibilities, "_Young one._" Harry looked to the phoenix and raised his eyebrow. "_Fawkes?_"

"_You should go after him, give your godfather his closure, and as your mate said, you have no use for him now._" Harry acknowledged Fawkes suggestion with a nod, "_Very well then. Would you mind taking a note to Amelia?"_Fawkes replied with an agreeing trill and lifted off to land on Harry's other shoulder.

Harry conjured some parchment and a self-inking quill and wrote a quick note to the Minister.

_Amelia,_

_I have discovered a wanted death-eater hiding at Hogwarts.  
Please send Rufus and a squad immediately.  
Fawkes will bring them straight to the headmasters office._

_Harry_

"Here you go Fawkes, please wait and bring them here." Fawkes nodded for everyone else's benefit, before grabbing the note in his beak and disappearing in a ball of crimson fire.

"THE RAT IS HERE!"  
"PETER'S IN THE CASTLE!"  
"YOU ALLOWED A DEATH-EATER INTO MY SCHOOL!"

"Yes. Yes. He's been here for several years, and he's not the only death-eater here." Harry replied with a meaningful look at the headmaster, who stared back at Harry. "No one knows where he is, and I assure you Albus the second he posed any danger to the school or her students I would have dealt with him before he could finish transforming."

"Transfor... he's hiding as a rat!" questioned Sirius.

"Yes he is." Harry stated as he pulled at the Marauders map.

"_I'm coming young one._" Harry sent a brief mental confirmation to Fawkes before speaking to the others, "Play along."

He quickly made his mirror invisible along with reactivating its privacy charms before six people appeared in an enormous ball of crimson fire, Harry blinked at the lead member of the group "Amelia, I wasn't expecting you to come yourself."

"I know Harry, but a wanted death-eater found hiding at Hogwarts is too high a profile an incident for me to not be present."

Harry bowed his head in acknowledgement of that, before greeting the rest of the minister's party, "Rufus, Kingsley, John, Hestia and you must be the cousin Sirius speaks so fondly of."

A blushing Tonks half stepped, half hopped around Kingsley and sent a small glare at Sirius, "Yes Mr Potter, Auror trainee Tonks."

Harry smiled at her "Now then Tonks none of this Mr Potter business, to my friends my name is Harry."

The pink haired auror gave a small giggle, but before she could say any more Rufus spoke up, "Right then Harry where is this death-eater?"

Harry eyed up the head of the DMLE, his relationship with the man was rather different this time around, although Harry still harbored some ill feeling toward the man for his actions as minister, but this was a different time, and Harry was trying to put the past behind him. He answered the man, "He's in Gryffindor tower."

"How do you know this?" Harry snorted at the same question coming from all six of the ministry party.

"My father, along with Sirius and Remus made a map during their time here, they were just showing me some of its features when we spotted a name on it." Harry opened the map to the first year Gryffindor boys dorm and showed them the dot labelled 'Peter Pettigrew', he groaned internally when he spotted the only other name in the dorm.

After Sirius and Remus explained that Peter was an illegal animagus, the group of humans and a phoenix, who hitched a ride on Dumbledore's shoulder, left the headmasters office at a brisk walk. The walk to Gryffindor tower was taken in silence with Harry and Rufus leading the way; being late on a Saturday morning the corridors and common room were fairly empty, those in the common room sat staring open mouthed at the people walking into the room.

The group quickly made their way up to the first year boys dorm, when they got there Ron's greeting of "Hey Harry." died in his throat when he caught sight of the others.

"Ron, where's Scabbers?" The tone in Harry's voice and the faint glow in his eyes, along with the fact that all ten of them had their wands out, had Ron simply pointing to the cage at the foot of his bed where a sleeping rat lay.

Harry stunned the rat through the cage before levitating it and smashing it on the floor whilst Rufus simultaneously cast the animagus reversal spell.

The unconscious form of Peter Pettigrew appeared on the floor in a heap, Ron let out a yelp of shock and surprise whilst two low growls could be heard from the marauders, who both had an auror lay a restraining hand on their shoulders.

When Rufus shot a disarmer at the traitor, two wands came flying at him, Harry recognised the second one, and pulled it straight into his now empty wand hand. Harry felt the surge of warmth from it when he grasped it; as he stared down at the wand, he had to focus his mind on keeping the rage he felt suppressed. The others in the room were all looking at him in a state of mild shock as his clothes were billowing around him and their breath was visible as the temperature in the room became much colder then when they arrived.

"Harry?" Dumbledore tentatively asked after the young wizard.

Harry's voice was like ice and it trembled with rage along with an undercurrent of raw power, "Yew. Thirteen and a half inches. Phoenix feather core."

Dumbledore gasped, whilst the others were looking even more confused, until Harry spoke again, "The wand of Lord Voldemort."

After Ron's small squeak at the dark lord's name, dead silence descended around the room as Harry's sentence hung in the air.

Harry walked slowly towards Pettigrew's unconscious form, and used the wand to enervate him.

With a startled yelp the traitor tried to scramble to his feet, but froze in mid-action and started to tremble in fear when he saw the people glaring at him with their wands out. He wet himself when he saw the boy in front of him with eyes glowing and holding his master's wand, he started screaming incoherently for mercy.

He only managed to scream for a fraction of a second before Harry slashed Voldemort's wand across in front of him and Peter's lips became sealed as he was forced into a kneeling position.

Harry held the wand loosely in his hand as he pointed it at Pettigrew's heart, the tip starting to glow a very familiar green, Harry's arm started to shake slightly before he felt a hand rest just below his elbow, he didn't even have to look round to know whose it was, he took several deep breaths, allowing the rage within him to bleed out, before lowering the wand, and turning into his wife's open arms, and allowing her presence and the soothing phoenix song to calm him further.

The others in the room were still blinking slightly from the quick double flash of phoenix fire that brought Ginny to the dorm, Dumbledore regained his senses the quickest and promptly stunned the now frozen in shock Pettigrew.

Given that they were still in an embrace, no-one questioned Ginny's presence; the aurors quickly searched Pettigrew but found nothing more on him, they then bound him for transport back to the ministry, where Amelia would call an emergency trial.

Dumbledore decided to accompany the group back to the ministry, he felt it fitting that his last act as Chief Warlock would be to send the Potter's betrayer down.

The trial if one could really call it that was over in less than an hour, the Wizengamot, with a little help from Fawkes had assembled in less then 30 minutes. The rat was dragged in before the court guarded by four auror's, he had already been hit with a silencing charm before entering the courtroom, but everyone could see that he was screaming his head off.

Dumbledore got straight down to business the moment he was seated and fed the truth serum, "Your name?" Dumbledore asked after the silencing charm had been lifted.

"Peter Andrew Pettigrew." he spoke in the emotionless haze of the truth serum.

"Are you a death-eater?" Asked Dumbledore, his anger at the man starting to leak a little into his voice.

"Yes."

"Were you the Potters secret keeper?"

"Yes." The court started muttering loudly at that proclamation.

Dumbledore called for silence before asking his next question, "Did you give their location to Lord Voldemort?" Dumbledore ignored the shudders that went through some in the court.

"Yes."

That alone was enough to get him life in Azkaban, but Dumbledore's next question sealed his fate, "Did you murder twelve muggles and frame Sirius Black not only for that crime but the betrayal of the Potters as well?"

"Yes."

Dumbledore's call of a vote was pointless as the entire Wizengamot was on its feet and demanding he be introduced to a Dementor immediately, the auror's who brought him in were quick to comply.

After the Wizengamot had broken up the group of five met back up again, after Dumbledore had lead them to a private room , and Harry had thrown up some privacy wards, he spoke, "Given what has transpired today, I feel it is probably best if we postpone our talk until tomorrow." He got four nods of approval and the group disbanded.

Sirius and Remus went back to Godric's Hollow, Harry suspected they were going to find the nearest pub and not leave it till the early hours of the morning.

Dumbledore decided to accompany Harry and Ginny back to the Burrow, they figured that what had transpired with the rat, and Ginny's disappearance would be better explained coming from him, then from Harry.

After Dumbledore had convinced Molly and Arthur that Harry had Sirius's and his own permission to be out of Hogwarts, the young couple disappeared up to Ginny's room which very quickly became one of the most heavily warded rooms in the country, as they spent several hours having some much needed alone time.

* * *

The fallout from Pettigrew's capture in the evening edition of the prophet wasn't as big as Harry feared, the fact that he had had Voldemorts wand on his person was kept out of the paper, but the fact that it was Harry that had found him wasn't. Harry had gotten used to the stares and whispers by now, so just took it all in his stride, thankfully for their sake his fan girls kept their distance, though he did notice Hermione giving him an odd look.

Once again Harry sat in the headmasters office with a floating Ginny via mirror beside his head, as he and Dumbledore waited for Sirius and Remus to make their way from the gates to the office. The door opened up, and Harry could tell at once that his prediction came true, they both showed signs of a heavy night's drinking.

Harry said loudly "Morning."

They both gave him a glare, Harry just smiled at them and fished two small vials out of his pocket and handed them over, they both recognised the vials contents instantly and quickly gulped them down, before thanking the smirking young wizard profusely.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he watched the marauders down the hangover potions that Harry had ready for them. "Right then, shall we resume from yesterday?"

At that everyone turned to Harry who rolled his eyes before becoming deadly serious, "Do either of you know what a Horcrux is?"

"Ah, I'll take that as a yes then." Harry commented on seeing both of their complexions become that of ghosts.

"He...he made one of those vile things?" Asked Sirius in a shaky voice.

"No Sirius." Harry shook his head, "He made six of them."

After that statement had sunk in, Harry had to quickly conjure two buckets in front of the marauders.

After the two marauders had cleaned themselves up, Harry continued with his story, "We have already destroyed two of them. One the headmaster and myself will be going to get this afternoon. One I am dealing with on my own. One you can get for us Sirius." At this said wizard blinked in shock and opened his mouth, but a quick jab in the ribs from Remus's elbow, and it was promptly shut. "The last one is going to be the hardest to get a hold of. Once all of them are destroyed I will go after Tom."

Seeing that Harry had finished, Sirius spoke "How on earth can I get one for you!"

Harry smiled at him, "Call Kreacher."

Sirius stared at Harry for a full minute before he spoke again, "Harry, erm... Kreacher's dead. He died before I went to Azkaban."

Harry didn't hear Ginny's shocked gasp, or see the puzzled looks of the three adults in the room, he was in a state of shock, his mind was replaying Kreacher's tale to him in Grimmauld Place.

Eventually Dumbledore had to fire a small stinging hex at the young mage to snap him out of his shock, the old wizard quickly found himself disarmed, bound, unconscious and dangling upside down by his ankle, whilst a shimmering red shield surrounded Harry.

Harry suppressed a snicker at the sight and let the old wizard down gently. After being enervated Dumbledore attempted to regain some of his lost dignity, but eventually just gave up and spoke over the snickers of the two marauders, "I take it from your reaction Harry, that Kreacher was alive in your timeline?"

Harry nodded at the headmaster, "Yeah." Harry turned to look at Sirius, "What happened to Regulus?"

Whatever question Sirius was expecting that wasn't it, "He... he was killed in an auror raid, about eleven or twelve years ago."

Harry frowned in thought and remained silent for several minutes, he looked across to the headmaster, "I need to get the report from that raid from the ministry, we are missing something here."

Dumbledore nodded, and before Harry could even ask, Fawkes took off from his perch and landed on Harry's shoulder before whisking him away in a ball of fire, directly to Amelia's office.

"Amelia." Harry greeted the rather startled minister.

"Harry, what can I do for you?" Amelia asked with a small hint of hidden nervousness, for Harry to come via phoenix straight to her office, this had to be important.

Harry detected the note of nervousness in her voice, "I need to see the report on the raid in which Regulus Black was killed."

The minister blinked at that request, but figured Harry had to have a good reason for asking, and pressed the runic button on her desk to call an auror.

Kingsley entered the office barely a minute later, he nodded to Harry as he walked up to the minister's desk, "You called Minister."

"Yes Kingsley, could you please retrieve the report from the raid in which Regulus Black was killed." The head auror hid his surprise well as he nodded and turned to leave.

Whilst they waited for Kingsley to return, Harry and Amelia, discussed the new training program that Harry had _suggested_ at their last face to face meeting. Harry had introduced a full obstacle course as well as running and weights training along with hand-to-hand combat training.

Harry had also introduced magical training, to make sure that everyone's spell casting was up to scratch. It was Ron who had came up with the idea originally, it was based off the principle of a muggle shooting gallery with an element of quidditch. It consisted of a large circle with several small walls and door frames scattered around it. The target drones themselves had taken the combined effort of Hermione, George and Harry, along with a fair bit of guidance from Flitwick to create in the first time-line, this time around Harry was able to make them himself, though he did fib and say the headmaster helped him make them.

The auror's raved about the drones, as far as they were concerned there was nothing better. They were small spheres just bigger than a bludger, like bludgers they flew around on their own, but these had a target on one side, that registered when it was hit with a spell, and how close to the center that hit was, as well as what spell, to survive the constant spell impacts Harry had made the things nigh indestructible, they could even withstand a couple of killing curses before exploding, Hermione wasn't happy with him when he tested that feature out.

They enabled the trainer's to see whose accuracy needed improving and whose spell repertoire needed expanding. This tool was invaluable to the trainers, and resulted in a lot of the auror's going back to _school_.

What made the training even better was that the drones could return fire, the spell they used had been invented by Fred and George, it was a combination of a paint spell, a colour spell and a stinging hex. The result was a spell that stung the victim in a localised spot and left a coloured mark, the colour of which was determined by the caster.

The drones had a range of eight colours to choose from, the selection of which was determined by the difficulty level set by the instructor. The higher the difficulty the more dangerous the spells that were fired, and the faster they were fired, as well as the faster the drone moved. The highest difficulty made the drones move like a golden snitch and fire twenty killing curses a minute. Harry was the only person who could last more than 20 seconds on that level.

Amelia was just finishing telling Harry about how the new auror trainees were fairing on the target range, when Kingsley returned with the report about Regulus's death.

Harry nodded to the head auror, "Thank you Kingsley." He turned towards the Minister, "Amelia, until next time." With that Fawkes took him back to the headmasters office.

As soon as he arrived he was greeted by a rather irate Sirius Black, "YOU BROKE INTO GRINGOTTS!"

Harry's gaze never faltered as he stared at his godfather, "Yes we did. It was the only way to defeat him. And if there is no other option I will do the same again."

Dumbledore broke the silence that reigned after Harry's declaration, "Harry, may I see what the report says?"

Harry handed it over to the headmaster, whilst he finished explaining Ginny's tale to the marauders about his break into Gringotts, and the subsequent escape, "After Griphook turned on us, we jumped on the back of the guard dragon, and flew it up through the vault levels and out of the lobby."

The two of them sat there open mouthed staring at Harry, for several minutes before they regained the power of speech, it was Remus who spoke first, "Well erm, let's hope we can find a way to get it out of there without breaking in."

Harry nodded at Remus's suggestion before turning back to the headmaster, "Well Albus, anything in there that might explain the differences?"

The old wizard looked over the top of the report, "I'm not sure, it says he was killed in a auror raid on a death-eater mansion in Wiltshire, it se-"

"WAIT, Wiltshire?" Dumbledore blinked at Harry's interruption before nodding, "Where exactly in Wiltshire?" Harry asked in a forced calm voice.

Dumbledore flicked back a couple of pages, "Ah, location approximately twenty miles southwest of the city of-"

"Of Swindon." Harry finished in a quiet voice.

"Harry?" Dumbledore queried.

"That mansion wasn't discovered until about ten years from now, when the original ward caster died, it was raided a few days before we were sent back." Harry sighed, "It's where the Gift of Time was found."

The room was silent as everyone sat there thinking, a small clearing of the throat drew Harry out of his musings, "Yes Sirius?"

"What happened to Reggie?" The old dog asked in a strained voice.

Harry sighed again before looking up at him, "Tom wanted a house-elf to accompany him when he went to hide a horcrux, he was going to use it to get past the defenses. Regulus, gave Kreacher to Tom. Tom used him to get past the defenses, and then Kreacher did what his master had told him to and returned back to Regulus. Regulus nursed him back to health, and asked him what happened. A few days later, Regulus came to Kreacher and told him to take him to the cave. He gave Kreacher the order to take the Horcrux and leave him there." Harry looked into Sirius's eyes and saw the moisture in them, "Regulus gave his life to get a piece of that monster's soul, it wasn't known for seventeen years, but he died a hero."

Sirius let the tears flow as Remus gathered him up into to a brotherly embrace. Harry gave the pair a sad smile before returning his attention back to the headmaster who was looking into the distance with a frown on his face, "Albus?"

The headmaster took a few moments to think further before looking up at Harry, "How far back did you come?"

Harry frowned at the question, "Erm, around eleven years."

"No Harry, I need the exact amount."

Harry blinked, "Erm ok." Harry thought for a second, "Ten years, fifty one weeks, minus about eight hours."

Albus leaned back in his chair as he closed his eyes and steepled his fingers, "I think I know what has happened."

"Well don't keep us in suspense!" Remus clipped Sirius round the head, whilst Harry sent the man a small glare.

Dumbledore gave a small chuckle before speaking, "You told me you came back from June 14th 2002 correct?" At Harry's slightly confused nod he continued, "Ten years and 51 weeks from there takes you back to June 21st this year." Harry nodded again, "If you backtrack Ten years and 51 weeks from then... You get the 28th of June 1980. If you allow for the hour differential as well, you get late evening on the 27th." Dumbledore handed over the file to Harry, "Look at the date and time of the raid."

Harry glanced at the file and read it outloud, "22:25 27th June 1980."

Dumbledore nodded at him, "Precisely the amount of time into the past that you traveled again, something happened to the Gift of Time, most likely a magical surge of some kind, that tripped the wards and alerted the aurors to the mansions location."

Harry continued on seamlessly, "With no Regulus to come back to, Kreacher would have died in that cave." Harry closed his eyes and dropped his head in his hands, his voice was muffled but everyone still heard it, "Which means the horcrux is still in there."

Dumbledore stood up and straightened his robes out, "Well then Harry, it seems you and I have two horcruxes to retrieve today."

Harry lifted his head out of his hands and looked at the headmaster, "The one we were originally going to get together, you got yourself last time, but got yourself badly injured. As for the cave horcrux..."

Dumbledore sat back down, "What protections are around the cave?"

Harry took a deep breath and cleared his throat, "A small blood lock," Dumbledore frowned, Harry sent him a half smile, "You were disappointed with him for that as well last time. After that we have an invisible boat to find and cross the underground lake in. Then on the island in the center, there is a basin with what I can only describe as a cruciatus potion that needs to be drunk."

Harry let all of that sink in for a few moments before adding, "Oh yeah there is also the army of inferi in the lake."

Both Sirius and Remus gave an involuntary shudder at that, and the twinkle was completely gone from Albus's eyes.

A trill from Fawkes turned everyone's attention to the bird as he flapped down and landed on Harry's shoulder before bending his head down, "_Catch them young one._" Harry's eyes widened as he quickly conjured a glass vial as the phoenix began to cry.

Dumbledore smiled at his companion, "Thank you Fawkes." The phoenix finished crying and looked at him, and gave a deep nod.

Harry corked the vile and put it in his robes, he took a deep breath before standing, "Well then Albus shall we?" "_Fawkes would you like to accompany us?"_ Fawkes gave a squawk of indignation before settling on Albus's shoulder, Harry smiled at the bird "I'll take that as a yes then."

* * *

Harry had no idea what protections were around the ring in the Gaunt shack, so he asked Fawkes to take them both to the graveyard where Tom was reborn, after telling the marauders to stay put and that they would be in touch.

When they appeared Harry closed his eyes and reinforced his occlumency as the memory of Cedric's death came to the front of his mind, he pushed it down and re-buried it as deep as possible before taking a long calming breath.

Harry straightened up and opened his eyes, "Let's go." Harry's voice had such a commanding quality to it that the headmaster's body had responded before his mind could process what Harry had said.

They found the shack easily enough, and Harry promptly obliterated the wards around it. With the wards down the two wizards cautiously approached the front door. Harry reached out with his magic when they were a few steps from the door, and frowned when he sensed no other magic in the shack apart from the horcrux and the curse it carried.

"Harry?" Dumbledore asked him at his frown.

"I'm not sensing any other protections, other than the curse on the ring." Harry told him whilst closing his eyes and probing the shack further with his magic.

"Well Tom was always a little arrogant and overconfident." Albus said in light tone.

Harry snorted as he opened his eyes, "That is the understatement of the century."

The two of them made it through the the shack to the floorboards where the ring was buried, before they lifted them up Harry locked eyes with the headmaster, "Albus; I need you to swear to me now that you will not attempt to take the ring from me."

Dumbledore frowned a little, but nodded, "You have my word Harry."

Harry nodded at him, "Very well then." Harry quickly vanished the floorboards and levitated the small box that was underneath, Harry had to stifle a snicker at Tom using a purple velvet ring box to hide it in.

Harry used his magic to hold the box in the air and open it, before levitating the ring out of it, Harry made sure to keep the stone facing away from the headmaster, Harry studied the ring for several minutes before taking a deep breath and waving his wand over the ring in a complex circular pattern.

Whilst Harry was nowhere near as skilled as most curse-breakers, who could unravel a curse down to its base components before dispelling it, Harry had only learnt the simplest of curse-breaking and ward-breaking spells, relying instead on his instinctive feel for magic, and his raw power.

Under Harry's magic the deadly curse didn't last long, with the curse destroyed Harry let the ring float away from him a little before summoning his sword and slashing it down onto the ring which gave a shriek as the soul fragment died.

Harry caught the ring with his mind before it could clatter to the ground, he brought it back to his hand, and felt the powerful magic of the hallow within. He conjured a simple metal chain through the ring, and placed it around his neck, he quickly tucked the ring under his shirt when he saw the headmaster looking at it.

"Well then Albus, shall we deal with the fourth one?" Harry asked the puzzled headmaster.

"Of course Harry, but first, may I ask you why you are not putting that ring in your box?"

Harry could hear the unspoken question in Dumbledore's voice, and stared into his eyes, trying to decide whether or not to tell him the truth. After almost a minute Harry told him "Its the resurrection stone, and it won't bring back Ariana."

Dumbledore's knees gave out as he choked back a sob, Harry walked over and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, as Fawkes began singing a soothing melody, he spoke softly to the crying man, "I'm sorry for telling you like that Albus, but the last time your obsession with her and the hallows were a contributing factor in your death."

Dumbledore gave a shaky nod before wiping his eyes and blowing his nose with Harry's conjured handkerchief. "I understand Harry, and I thank you for keeping the temptation away from me." He took a deep calming breath before his grandfatherly jovial face was back on, "Shall we take care of number four then?"

Harry stared him in the eye for a moment to judge where is mind was, what Harry saw satisfied him that Dumbledore was in control of his emotions with that thought he nodded at the headmaster and grabbed his arm, before apparating them away.

They arrived on the same dark outcrop of rock that Dumbledore had taken Harry to several years before. "A pleasant spot." Harry chuckled at Dumbledore's comment, "Indeed it is. You won't object to getting a little wet?"

Before Dumbledore could answer Harry dove of the rock and into the water and started swimming towards the cave entrance, he felt Dumbledore jump in behind him. Harry made it to the steps leading to the entrance cave several minutes ahead, he subconsciously used his magic to dry himself out as he felt around with his magic for the hidden door.

Dumbledore emerged from the water with Fawkes perched on the top of his head clearly ruffled at having to swim; just as Harry had illuminated the doorway with his magic, Harry was toying with the idea of opening the door, or just removing it.

"Problem Harry?" Dumbledore asked the young mage, as he dried himself off with his wand.

"Hmm, no not a problem as such, I just can't decide whether or not to open the door, or just destroy it."

Dumbledore blinked at that, "I see, perhaps merely opening it would suffice, we don't know what removing it might do to the rest of the cave."

Harry consented that point and drew out his small combat knife that he had had Sirius buy for him, Harry spun it round in his hand and was about to prick his finger when Fawkes let out a squawk.

"_Stop young one. You blood is too powerful._" Harry nodded at the phoenix, "Of course, my mother's protection. Headmaster if you wouldn't mind?" Harry offered Dumbledore the knife handle first, the old wizard took it without hesitation and sliced his palm open before splattering the wall with specks of blood.

The doorway opened up to the pitch black cave that Harry remembered, Harry made his way in first, his body glowing with the pale white of a lumos charm. As Harry flung several light balls into the cave, Dumbledore remained silent, accepting Harry's casual use of insane amounts of magic as if it was nothing. " No matter what happens, do not touch the water." Harry told him in a no-nonsense tone.

"Is it in the middle?" Dumbledore asked as the pair made their way round the edge of the lake.

"Yes." Harry kept his answer brief as he was concentrating half his mind on feeling with his magic for the invisible boat. After several minutes of comfortable silence, Harry's neck twitched as his eyes locked on to something only he could see he smiled and picked up the pace. By the time Dumbledore had caught up with him, the boat was almost to the shore.

"I'm not sure if it will let both of us cross." Harry told the headmaster as the boat gently bumped into the edge of the cave.

"Hmm, you are probably correct. Fawkes, any chance of a lift?" The phoenix gave an agreeing trill, before speaking to Harry, "_I will carry him across young one. Then i'm afraid I must take my leave, the darkness here is too much for me to bear for much longer._"

Harry nodded at the phoenix he was having a hard time dealing with the oppressive feeling of darkness in the cave himself, "Very well Fawkes. Can you wait for us outside to take us back to Hogwarts?" The phoenix bowed his head in acknowledgment of the request before dragging Dumbledore up into the air by his collar, and flying him to the centre, Harry chuckled at Dumbledore's somewhat feminine sounding scream, as he was carried across the lake. Harry hopped into the boat and smiled as it started moving across the water, he kept his eyes glued to the center the entire trip.

Once there he found a somewhat disgruntled Dumbledore who was glaring at a spot that was evidently where Fawkes had just flamed out from. Harry chuckled at the man, "Come on Albus, let us get this over with."

Dumbledore nodded before going over to the basin, and conjuring a crystal goblet, whilst Harry fished out the vial of phoenix tears from his pocket, "I think half now, and half when you've drunk it, would be best." Dumbledore nodded and accepted the vial before downing half of it in one mouthful.

"Hmm, tastes sweet." Harry rolled his eyes at that, he looked away as Dumbledore filled the goblet with the potion, and echoing his words from the last time, "Your good health Harry." He downed the potion, and kept going back for more, only after the seventh goblet did he finally gave in and drop to his knees, Harry closed his eyes, but knew what he had to do, he picked up the goblet from where Dumbledore had dropped it, before feeding the remaining potion to him.

As soon as the basin was empty Harry grabbed the locket in one hand whilst pouring the rest of the tears down Dumbledore's throat, he waited anxiously for several moments, until Dumbledore's eyes blinked open and he gave a hacking cough, "Ugh, that potion is no health tonic."

Harry released the breath he didn't realise he had been holding and got out the bottle of water from his pocket for Dumbledore to drink. The old wizard took the bottle and gulped half of it down in one go, before taking a few sips, "Is there anything you don't carry in that pocket of yours?"

Harry laughed at his comment, "I'm sure there's a few things that could be added to it, but for now let us get out of here and destroy this thing."

"Agreed." Dumbledore said as he started to climb back to his feet, however his foot slipped on a loose stone and he stumbled, Harry was there in a flash to catch and steady him, but Dumbledore watched horror struck as the stone tumbled over the edge of the stone island. Harry felt Dumbledore's gaze on the stone but he was too late to stop it as the stone hit the water with a small splash.

Harry and Dumbledore glanced at each other before they both raised their wands, Harry recalled his light balls to float around the two of them, as the inferi started to rise from the lake.

"Fire!"

They both said it at the same time, normally they would have laughed but not now, Dumbledore conjured his fire whip and sliced through an incoming hoard whilst Harry just sent out a constant stream of fireballs in all directions. The inferi screamed as they were burned and sliced in half, yet they still came, in fact Harry was fairly certain they were being more aggressive than before.

An idea so crazy Harry knew that Ginny would kill him for even thinking it came to him as he dispatched another half dozen inferi, "COVER ME!" Harry screamed out, as he stopped his fireball stream.

Dumbledore responded to Harry's shout by creating a roaring ring of fire around the pair of them, his eyes widened in shock as the inferi still tried to force their way through it, "HARRY SOME EXPEDIENCE WOULD BE APPRECIATED!"

Dumbledore felt the ripple of magic from Harry and had to focus on keeping his ring of fire up, he almost dropped his wand in shock when he heard Harry cast a spell.

"**MALEDICTIO INCENDIUM!"**

The roaring flames of Fiendfyre sprang up around the pair as Dumbledore let his ring drop, he readied his wand in case Harry lost control, but from the looks of it that wasn't going to happen. Harry's body was literally crackling with magic as he waved his wand around his head in a large circle, using his will to control the flames.

Dumbledore moved closer to Harry and picked off the the handful of inferi strong enough to make it through the wall of fire creatures. When no more had come through for several seconds, Dumbledore shouted out to Harry over the roar of the flames, "I think that is all of them."

Harry slowly let the flames lower but kept the ring up, he slowed down his circles and let his control on the flames slip just a little, so he could reach out and feel around with his magic, when he felt no signs of any being dead or alive, he regained full control of his flames, and extinguished them.

When the flames died, Harry dropped to one knee and was breathing heavily as Dumbledore crouched down next to him, he was also breathing heavier then normal, Harry spoke to him in a quiet voice, "You tell Ginny about that and I'll dangle you off the astronomy tower by your beard."

Dumbledore chuckled but nodded at Harry, knowing full well that he would carry out the threat, "Very well then Harry, shall we take our leave."

Harry nodded and stood up, "Not quite yet." Harry picked up the locket from where he had dropped it when he cast the fiendfyre, drew the sword and rammed his occlumency shields to maximum, "Stand back." Harry told the headmaster over his shoulder, before hissing "_Open._" The locket sprung, Harry felt the soul fragment try and breach his mind, but blocked it easily he smiled a grim smile as he swung the sword down and the shrieks of agony echoed around the cave as the horcrux died.

Harry had just put the locket away in his box and was making his way over to the boat, he was just about to get his broom out, when Fawkes flamed in, "_Fawkes, are you alright?_"

"_Yes young one, I sensed that the darkness had been vanquished so came back to aid you._" Harry smiled at him, as he held out his hand to the headmaster, "Shall we Albus."

* * *

A/N - There you go, what do you think? My new job eats up a lot of my time, but I am managing to sneak in a bit of writing at work. I have no idea how long it will be to next chapter, as I won't be posting it until I have finished the chapter after, you'll understand why when I post the next one. (its a bit of a cliffy :P)

P.S - This chapter takes this story over the length of Chamber of Secrets :)


	21. C 20 : Discussions & Disguises

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Hi Everyone I know this has been a while, and for that I apologise, but my life has been rather hectic of late, its finally settling down into a routine, but with Xmas coming up and big changes at work in the new year, I doubt it will stay stable for long. Here is chapter 20, I hope you like it, if not, please don't post hate, I have nothing wrong with constructive criticism but hate will not be tolerated.

Also a word of caution, this chapter ends on a cliffhanger.  
You have been warned...

* * *

**Discussions & Disguises**

After Harry and Dumbledore had returned to the latter's office, they were greeted with cheers when they announced their successes. After they finished celebrating and being told several times by both Harry and Dumbledore that there was no problem with getting them, they moved onto to discuss the topic of how to get Ginny to Hogwarts.

The marauders came up with the idea of Harry rescuing Ginny from a broom failure with some 'accidental' magic. The only downside to the plan was that it would have to wait another week till the next Saturday, when Harry could legitimately visit her.

"We had time together yesterday, that should tide us over till next weekend." Ginny said in a quiet voice.

Harry gave a sad sigh but nodded, "Ok then, so that's settled. Now then, Albus, I think you have something to say to Sirius?" Harry said with an innocent looking face.

Ginny covered a snicker over the mirror whilst the headmaster sent a small glare at the smiling young wizard, before clearing his throat and addressing the confused marauders, "I am going to step down as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot."

Sirius just frowned at him as he sat there thinking, but Harry was watching Remus, who frowned in concentration before his eyes opened wide and he looked at Sirius then back to the headmaster, and finally to Harry, who gave the werewolf a small nod.

The loud thud of Remus's unconscious body hitting the floor snapped Sirius out of his confusion, he leapt down to help him when he was stopped by a word from the headmaster, "Damn." Sirius frowned and looked at the headmaster who was handing over a bag of galleons to Harry, whilst muttering about 'know-it-all time-travellers'.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Sirius's shout woke up Remus who instantly leaped up, knocking Sirius over in the progress, "ARE YOU CRAZY!?"

"Remus I can assure you, I am in perfect possession of my faculties, and he is the only choice that we can trust." Dumbledore replied in a level tone, with a subtle hint of warning to it.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOT TALKING ABOUT!?" Growled Sirius as he got back to his feet, whilst Remus slumped back in his chair resigned to the truth of the headmasters reasoning.

Before Dumbledore could open his mouth, Harry decided to put the old dog out of his misery, "Albus is planning on making _you_ Chief Warlock."

Sirius's jaw practically hit the floor as his face paled and he dropped into the armchair, which Harry had quickly moved to be right behind him. As he put his head in his hands, "Please tell me you're not serious?"

Everyone in the room knew that Sirius wasn't making his usual pun, after seeing Harry looking at him expectantly, Albus spoke up, "Yes Sirius, with me stepping down you are the only choice that we can trust, and the only one who will do what is right not what is easy. Your Gryffindor stubbornness, and pureblood upbringing will also be of great help."

"But why though?" Sirius whined.

Harry interjected here, "I have convinced the headmaster, that given his increasing years, he needs to concentrate on just one of his three positions. I pointed out to him that he has made a few mistakes in them over the years."

The marauders, saw the headmaster hang his head at Harry's statement, Remus was the one who spoke, "Why is Sirius the only one you can trust? Surely there are other members?"

"Hey! I could make a good Chief whatsit." Sirius received three rather incredulous stares at that remark.

It was Dumbledore who answered Remus, "Sirius may not be the only person we can trust, but he is the only person we can trust who would have enough influence to actually get things done."

Sirius laughed once at Dumbledore's last statement, before he sat up straighter, "I'll be needing a lot of help." he sighed, "But ok, I'll do it."

Remus patted him on the back, "I think you are all nuts, but I've got your back."

* * *

Dumbledore's retirement from Chief Warlock was the front page headline of the prophet on Monday morning, he was on the receiving end of many looks from both the students and staff, ranging from curiosity to disbelief. As Harry looked up to the staff table he saw that the headmaster was in a deep conversation with both his deputy and charms professor. Harry also did not fail to notice the partially hidden glare that Snape was sending the headmasters way, Harry smirked as he carried on with his breakfast and glanced at the sub-headline on the prophet, which was the cause of Snape's ire.

_**Black to succeed Dumbledore as Chief Warlock!**_

* * *

Once again Harry was sat in the headmasters office awaiting the arrival of his godfather and uncle, he closed his eyes as he re-thought about what he had done with Fawkes that evening after dinner, he had excused himself from his house-mates by saying he had a meeting with the headmaster, that the meeting wasn't for a few hours, Harry decided not to mention.

He had finally managed to visualise his two 'cores' as Lily had called them, and had managed to get them to touch, but they seemed surrounded by a barrier of some kind that neither Fawkes nor Lily could identify, let alone understand, though to Harry the barrier seemed to be living, like it was actually alive and preventing his 'cores' from touching.

As was becoming the custom, Sirius and Remus both hugged Harry as soon as they entered. Sirius was looking every bit the pure blood lord that he was, he was resplendent in his Chief Warlock robes of deep maroon with black and gold highlights. Remus was looking every bit the self respecting wizard as well in robes of a dark amber, with black highlights. Harry picked up on the small insignia over his left breast, and whistled as he raised his eyebrows to Sirius, "Wow, you actually managed to get Remus to become your chief advisor!"

Sirius gave Harry a big grin whilst Remus muttered under his breath about evil dogs who should have been snakes.

Albus smiled at the pair, "Right then, Harry, what is on today's agenda?"

Harry smiled at the headmaster, "Well I'm still doing research on my end, but the biggest problem at the moment is the Horcrux in Gringotts. Short of barging in through the front door and blasting my way down to the vault, I'm a little short on ideas."

The adults present all gulped at the matter of fact way that Harry said that, none of them doubted for a second that he could and would do it. It was Dumbledore who spoke first, "Yes well, whilst the permanent defeat of Voldemort is wanted, I'm not sure if it will be worth an all out war with the Goblin nation."

Harry nodded, "I agree, but we need that Horcrux."

"What vault is it in?" Remus asked.

Harry glanced at Sirius slightly before looking back to Remus, "Bellatrix's."

Everyone heard the low growl from Sirius at the mention of his cousin's name, though Harry was certain Remus was electing to ignore it when he spoke again.

"As a family member is there anyway you can get access to it?"

Both Albus and Sirius shook their heads, it was Sirius who spoke though, "No, when she married into the Lestrange's, they became her head of house. Even with an annulment of marriage, re-making me her head of house, the Goblin's don't recognise that authority over someone else's accounts, as it is a wizarding title."

"Damn." Harry and Remus muttered in unison.

"What if we told the Goblins what it is?" Sirius asked the group, but Albus and Harry were already shaking their heads.

"Even if we did tell them, the Lestrange's are one of their largest account holders, I can't see them letting something from one of their biggest clients be destroyed, no matter what it is." Albus said with a heavy voice.

"I think you might be putting the goblins in a darker light, if we could explain the ramifications of letting it remain intact, they might reconsider." Remus answered.

"Perhaps, but in my dealings with them over the years, I'm afraid I cannot see them fully comprehending the scope of their inaction on the wider world." Dumbledore countered back.

Harry raised his hand to stop Remus's attempting to counter back again, "I think Albus has a point, whilst I don't think they are ignorant of what the consequences would be, I think the more accurate assessment would be that they simply don't care about the wider world. Unless its going to cost them lots of gold."

"What were the repercussions of your break in last time round?" Sirius asked in the quiet left from Harry's statement.

"Costly. It took months of negotiations to even get us an audience with a goblin. Then we had to explain why we did it and what it was that we did, as I lead the _raid_ they forced me to pay all the damages." Harry sighed, "But we were at war; it was a different time, and we had a goblin helping us. Short of Bellatrix signing it over to me, I can't see any way of getting it, without force."

"We could make Bellatrix sign it over to you." Remus suggested, in a dark tone.

Albus shook his head "No, an item of that value would have to be transferred with a blood signed magical contract, which would detect any form of coercion."

It was then that Harry had a brainwave, he was just about to speak when Lily spoke to him _"Master Harry, four adults have just entered the main gates, the minister is leading them."_

_"Who else?"_ Harry asked the castle.

_"Algie Croaker, Rufus Scrimgeour, and Kingsley Shacklebolt."_ Harry frowned, at the first name.

"Harry what is it?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry looked at him before glancing back to the others, "Amelia is on her way up with Rufus, Kingsley, and Algie Croaker." Silence reigned, as panic set in for the group, they knew Croaker was the head unspeakable, him being here had to be something big.

_"Master Harry they are just rounding the corridor."_

"Lily says they are just downstairs. You guys pretend to be having a meeting about chief warlock stuff, I'll hide and observe." With that Harry quickly said goodbye to Ginny and stuffed the mirror back into his shirt with his mind whilst he whipped out his cloak, and levitated himself above the others. The headmaster quickly vanished Harry's chair, just before there was a knock on the door.

"Enter." Dumbledore's voice was solid and betrayed none of the nervousness that Harry knew he was feeling.

"Ah Amelia, what a pleasant surprise, and Rufus, Kingsley enjoying your new positions? Oh and Algie its been a long time, how has the D.O.M. been treating you?"

"I'm afraid this is not a social call Headmaster." Amelia spoke in a controlled tone, floating above them Harry drew his wand, and floated closer to the door.

"Oh I see, then what may I ask brings the four of you to my office?" The headmaster asked with a smile on his face but everyone could hear the steel in his voice.

"Where is Mr Potter?" The question came not from the minister but Croaker.

"I am not certain, as it is a school night I suspect he is in the tower or perhaps the library finishing his homework. I could fetch him for you, but first I must ask why you wish to see him? And as his legal guardian I'm sure Sirius would like to know that as well."

"You are correct Headmaster I would very much like to know why you want to see Harry, not only has his godfather but also as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot." Harry smiled as Sirius let Lord Black out for everyone to see.

Amelia nodded at Sirius, "Very well then, a simple question. How old is your godson and his wife?"

Harry closed his eyes and swore in his head, he flew down behind the group of four and stood between them and the door, he left his wand pointed at the floor as he took off his cloak and answered the minister's question, "And why would you want to know that minister?"

As Harry expected the four of them all turned though only three had wands drawn, Harry raised his but before anyone could get off a spell Amelia shouted out "STOP!"

Harry didn't and disarmed the ministry four before they could even blink, with their wands safely tucked away in his pocket Harry smiled sweetly at them all before addressing the minister, "Now that the pleasantries have been exchanged, as I'm sure you are aware Amelia, I turned eleven years old on the 31st of July."

"In body maybe, but not in mind, nor in magic." Said Croaker.

"And what might I ask leads you to draw that conclusion Mr Croaker?" Harry asked in an even tone but with even more steel behind it then the headmaster used.

Croaker gave him a small nod, "Several things, but the main one is the book of time, located deep within the department, it records any and all fluctuations in the timeline, though as it is deeply buried and true time-travel is so rare, it is only ever checked once a decade. I was the one who checked it six years ago, I overheard Kingsley talking about an auror raid that occurred around the time of the last time event, and decided to check it again."

Harry knew that the game was up, "My request for the report about Regulus, it recorded the time fluctuation that was responsible for his death?"

"Yes Mr Potter it did. It also recorded one on the morning of June 21st, which I'm assuming is the date you arrived from the future with your wife, Miss Weasley, or rather Mrs Potter." Croaker asked.

Harry sighed and nodded, "Yes."

The ministry four all gulped at having their suspicion confirmed.

"Well then; now what?" Dumbledore asked.

"An excellent question Albus." Harry answered, still keeping his wand out.

"Why did you come back in time?" asked Amelia.

Harry answered back with a smile in his voice, "We didn't." Harry smirked at the puzzled looks he got, "Us coming back was an accident. We didn't come back by choice."

The ministry four all blinked, and Harry distinctly noticed Rufus and Kingsley relax slightly, "Oh. Ok then. What have you been changing since you came back?"

Harry gave the minister a hard stare, "Where this conversation goes, depends on what you intend to do now you know the truth."

"What I plan on doing depends mostly on what the actual truth is. But, from where I'm standing you have done nothing but good for this country, so I think we can overlook the laws of time-travel in this instance, especially as it was an accident."

Harry smiled at the minister, "Thank you. Ok then; Voldemort is still alive." Harry had to stifle a snicker when the ministry four all gulped again.

"That is what I have been trying to change. As well as to clear out the bigotry and prejudice of our society." Harry said after everyone had sat down on the headmasters armchairs.

"Worthy goals Mr Potter."

"Thank you Mr Croaker but please call me Harry, Mr Potter makes me feel old."

"Algie, then." Harry smiled at the man and nodded at him, 'maybe he can help'.

"Right then, If the headmaster has no objections to us using his office, could you let us know what we can help out with?" The minister asked Harry.

Harry looked at her before locking eyes with the headmaster _"Albus, they might be able to help with our little goblin problem, and Croaker could be a great help to my research project."_

"_I agree Harry. But this is powerful and dangerous knowledge to give others, I might suggest an oath of secrecy."_

"_That wouldn't exactly instill trust and cooperation."_

"_I know. But-"_

"_Albus, the last time around you did exactly the same, withheld information from people who could help, and it prolonged the war a great deal. Don't make the same mistakes again, I trust Kingsley with my life, and Amelia has proven that she can be trusted, Croaker fully understands the need for secrecy, and Rufus; well I respect the man, he held off Voldemort for several minutes single handedly, and then didn't betray my location to him under torture, I owe him a debt, though he doesn't know it."_

The headmaster closed his eyes and gave Harry a nod _"Very well then, as you said before, this is your fight."_

Harry gave him a small smile _"Thank you."_

Their entire conversation had taken only a few seconds so no one was the wiser to it when Harry answered the minister, "Well as I said Voldemort is currently immortal, I have been working on changing that, and am almost there. I have also been doing an advanced research project which I'm hoping Mr Cr-Algie can help me with?"

"Of course Mr Potter, anything to kill that old bastard permanently. Though I must say I can think of only one method of immortality that he could have used, and I find your phrasing of 'almost there' somewhat confusing and if I am interpreting you correctly a little disturbing." replied Croaker.

Harry gave the man a small smile he was intelligent, he nodded "Yes, he did make horcruxes as in plural. He made six of them, though one doesn't exist yet."

The ministry four all shuddered in revulsion, though Harry did shoot a small smirk at the two marauders when none of the ministry four emptied their stomachs. Harry also observed the headmaster's hidden frown at the mention of the number of horcruxes, _"Later Albus; one they do not need to know about."_ Albus gave him a subtle nod.

Croaker was the first to speak, "I see."

"I have destroyed four of them." Harry said to everyone, both Croaker and Amelia nodded in appreciation.

"What's the problem with the last one?" Kingsley asked.

"Very astute Kingsley." Harry and Albus looked at each other before they both chuckled at their simultaneous praising of the head Auror.

Harry answered Kingsley's question, "The problem with the last one is its location, it is actually what we were discussing before you lot showed up."

"Where is it?" Rufus asked.

Harry looked him in the eye and answered, "Bellatrix Lestrange's vault at Gringotts."

Harry distinctly heard Kingsley and Croaker curse under their breath, and he saw Amelia give a small shudder, Rufus answered, "Ah."

Ever the practical man, Croaker was the first to speak, "What ideas have you come up with so far?"

Harry smiled at him, "Well we were just realising that the only way to get it without blasting my way through the entire bank,-" Harry ignored the strangled noises coming from the three law enforcement officials, "Would be to have Bellatrix sign it over to me."

"It would have to be a blood signed magical contract, which means you'd have to have her sign it willingly." Croaker said.

Croaker continued after Harry nodded at him, "But she would never sign something over to you; unless she didn't know she was signing it over to _you_. But even then, she is hardly like to give up something that belonged to her master."

Croaker stopped when he saw the gleam in Harry's eyes, "Of course that depends on exactly who were to do the asking."

Harry smiled an evil little grin at Croaker, and watching as the old unspeakable almost fell of his chair with laughter, "HA thats brilliant." He took a few moments to recover, whilst the rest of the room were just staring at them with confused looks, "But how are you going to do it?"

Harry turned to face the others in the room, and snorted at the looks of puzzlement and bewilderment he was getting, _"Fawkes would you be able to bring Tonks here please, oh and do try-"_ Before Harry could finish his sentence Fawkes flamed out, Harry sighed, "Not to startle her too much."

"Erm Harry?" Sirius asked for the group as a whole.

Harry gave his godfather a marauder grin, and smirked in satisfaction as the two marauders glanced at each other and gulped.

Before the others could question the marauders gulping, Fawkes flamed in with Tonks who was dressed only in a towel, evidently having just come out of the shower. She yelped, and Harry quickly conjured up a privacy curtain for her, "Sorry about that Tonks, Fawkes has a rather twisted sense of humour, here are some clothes."

Everyone could hear Tonks muttering under her breath as she got dressed in the plain muggle outfit Harry had conjured for her.

"OK, I'm decent." Tonks said.

Harry quickly vanished the privacy curtain, and ignored the snickers from Sirius at the top Tonks was wearing, the top had 'Wolf Girl' written across the front. Remus's eyes had practically fallen out of his head, before he quickly tried to hide behind Sirius.

Tonks controlled her blush at Sirius's snickers and asked Harry, "Now then, _Harry_, why did you have that bloody bird drag me here straight from the shower!"

"OK Tonks, for the record I told him to bring you here and not startle you too much. It was his idea to bring you straight from the shower." Harry answered her. Fawkes let out an amused trill, Tonks glared at him before she shot a stinging hex at him, Fawkes let out a yelp and flamed out of the office.

She took a deep breath, before addressing Harry again, "Right then, why am I here?"

"Before I get to that, a quick question. Are you able to mimic the appearance of someone else?" Harry asked, he ignored Dumbledore's gasp as the old wizard worked out what Harry was up to.

Tonks blinked at the question before taking a moment to look at the faces around the room, she sighed before sitting down in the beanbag Harry conjured behind her.

"Given some practice, and access to the individual in question. Possibly. Truth be told I've never actually tried." Tonks answered.

"Ah, when you say access what kind of access? Because all we have for you to look at is a few memories." replied Harry.

Tonks shrugged, "I don't know like I said I've never really tried it."

Harry nodded, "Would you mind trying now?"

Tonks stared at Harry long and hard, "Why?"

Harry gave her a cold stare for a minute, "We need to impersonate someone, and we have nothing that could be used in polyjuice."

Tonks glanced at the minister and her two bosses, at seeing no reaction she realised they obviously knew what this was about, "OK, I'll give it a try."

Harry smiled at her and nodded, "Thank you."

Harry watched as Tonks stared hard at the minister for a few minutes before closing her eyes.

"Harry."

"Yes, Albus."

"You do intend to get her to impersonate Tom."

Harry sighed, "You know I'd rather she not, if I could do it I would. No one knows him better than me. But she is the only one that can do it."

_"Master, that might not be entirely accurate."_ Harry looked up at the ceiling, and asked Lily what she was on about.

_"I have been following your conversation, my apologies for eavesdropping. But I remember Rowena teaching a class about how to change one's appearance. The book she used is still here, I can leave it in the room for you if you'd like?"_

Harry stood up quickly and looked to the headmaster, "Lily says she may have something that can help."

The headmaster nodded as Harry spun round and walked towards the door, he froze as he walked past Tonks.

Everyone followed the headmasters gaze as he watched Harry lower his head and concentrate, Harry turned his head sharply to face Tonks, and smirked, before he left at brisk walk.

Harry took the opportunity now he was alone to duck into an alcove and brief Ginny on what had transpired, "Harry, can you really impersonate Tom? Especially in front of _her_? You'll have to _act_ like him."

Harry hung his head and nodded "I know. But its the only way."

"Harry look at me please?"

Harry looked up and into the eyes of his wife through the mirror, "I love you, no matter what. Now go and get that horcrux so you can finish Tommy boy for good!"

Harry smiled at her, and gave a mock salute "Yes Mam."

He carried on to the Room of Requirement and found the book waiting there on a table for him.

_Changing Yourself_

_By Rowena Ravenclaw_

Harry smiled as he sat down in a squishy armchair that the room conjured for him, Lily had kindly marked the passage that he would need to read, he silently thanked her as he started reading.

* * *

Thirty minutes after Harry had left, Dumbledore was sitting across from two Amelia Bones's, the only difference between them was that one was in a t-shirt, and concentrating very hard, "Very impressive Miss Tonks, if it weren't for the clothes I doubt I would notice the difference based on your appearance."

"Thank you headmaster, but it was not without difficulty, and I seriously doubt my ability to hold the form whilst acting." Tonks said as she morphed back to her pink haired normal appearance.

"Well perhaps Harry was able to acquire something helpful from Lily." said Dumbledore.

"Who is Lily?" Croaker asked.

"Lily is name of the avatar of Lady Hogwarts." Dumbledore answered the unspeakable.

Before anyone could respond, there was a knock on the door. The headmaster frowned wondering why the gargoyle hadn't informed him who was coming, then he smiled "Come in Harry."

That smile promptly vanished when he laid eyes on the person who entered, where he expected to see Harry he saw a young man easily twenty years old, with spiked up blond hair and bright blue eyes that were so full of mirth that Albus's hand paused on its way to his wand.

Before Albus could open his mouth to speak the figure morphed into the eleven year old form of Harry Potter.

Everyone in the room was spluttering as Harry had to hold in a guffaw at the dumbfounded looks he was getting, eventually Algie and Albus managed to speak at once, "How in the name of Merlin!"

Harry merely chuckled and gave himself a long flowing beard like the headmaster, "How in the name of Merlin, indeed."

It took several minutes for Harry to give them an abbreviated version of how he managed to become a metamorph, when he was finished he noticed the look of resigned acceptance on the headmasters face, as well as the looks of shock on nearly everyone else's. The one face that stood out was Algie's, he was frowning as he stared at Harry hard.

"Algie?"

"How old are you?"

Harry blinked, "Twenty two. Why?"

Everyone watched the colour drain from the unspeakable's face as he slumped back in his chair, whilst muttering under his breath 'impossible, its not possible'

"What's not possible?" Harry asked the unspeakable, with some trepidation in his voice.

Croaker took a moment to gather himself together before he answered, "If you were the headmasters age, then whilst unprecedented it would be feasible, but at your age, to have that much magical power that you can afford to use a significant portion of it _just_ to change your appearance."

The unspeakable sighed "How powerful are you?"

Now it was Harry's turn to gather himself together, "I don't know; and in all honesty, I'm not sure I ever want to find out."

"You keep your power suppressed don't you." Though the headmaster hadn't phrased it as a question, Harry still answered it as such.

"Yes."

"When you got angry at me the other day, you generated a visible aura, even then you were still suppressing your power, weren't you?" The headmaster asked Harry, whilst the rest of the room had shocked expressions, and there were several audible gasps.

Harry nodded at him again, "Yeah, I can't ever lose control of my core. There is no telling what devastation I could cause, or the lives I could end if my control slips."

"Has it slipped before?" Sirius asked in a quiet voice.

Everyone saw Harry's eyes snap closed, and they all felt a small ripple from him, as the memory surfaced, "Once. A few months after the War ended, about three years ago, from my perspective. I was helping out on a raid, when one of the others on the raid got grazed by a crucio, I lost my focus and slammed the guy who cast it through about 4 walls and 200 yards into the back garden, and then lost control completely, I managed to get myself out of there before I killed anyone, I apparated through the manor's wards, destroying them in the process, and appeared over the north sea, where I... I let rip. I flash boiled a rather large chunk of the ocean, it was so big, that the Muggle news reported a tidal wave hitting the east coast of Scotland, as well as a small drop in sea level."

As everyone was digesting what he had said Harry stood and made towards the door, "Harry, where are you going?" Dumbledore asked the young mage.

"Gringotts, to get a blood quill and that contract drawn up." Before anyone could object, Fawkes flamed back in and grabbed Harry's shoulder and whisked them away in a fireball.

* * *

Harry returned less than an hour later to find most of the rooms occupants having their own little discussions, they all ceased when he arrived back.

"Were you successful?" the headmaster asked, Harry merely nodded as he closed eyes and took a deep breath before he started to grow taller, and his hair receded into his skull, as his skin got paler and his nose flattened into slits. Next his clothes started changing, into a long deep black flowing cloak, Harry finally opened his eyes and gave Dumbledore a fright as Harry's eyes were glaring red, Harry calmly flicked his wand away and snapped out Voldemorts from his third holster on his left arm, he had moved the elder wand to his right, alongside his holly and double phoenix feather wand.

Harry spoke, "Well then, I'll be off. I shouldn't be too long. Fawkes?" Hearing the dark lord talk like that, and seeing Fawkes happily jump back onto his shoulder had most of the rooms occupants blinking at the strangeness of the sight, before they had to blink again as Fawkes took Harry to Azkaban.

Harry appeared in the corridor off from the maximum security wing, he quickly sent out a pulse of raw magic to keep the dementor's back, and told Fawkes to hide, as he strode purposefully to Bellatrix's cell.

As he approached Harry cleared his mind, and focused on his objective here, he let a sneer grace his face as he let his true anger for Bellatrix peek through.

"Bella." He snarled, once he was outside her cell.

The startled witch jerked with surprise before she let out a small squeal of joy and prostrated herself in front of him.

"Oh master, you have return-"

Part of Harry's mind was screaming at him to let her talk, but he knew to be convincing for this, he would have to curse her.

He mentally sighed in resignation as he flung a silencing ward around her cell with a small gesture of his hand before he summoned up his hatred for her and spat out, _"Crucio!"_

Her screams tugged his mind in two directions, one part wanted her to suffer for everything she had done, and for killing Sirius; the other part was begging him to let her go.

Harry stopped the curse, and glared down at the her crumpled form, he swallowed slightly before altering his voice, "Get up!"

"Myy-y-yy Lo-oo-rr-dd?"

"**Silence**!" Harry backhanded her with a magical slap and sent her crashing back to the floor, "You have failed me Bella, you failed to find me when that _mudblood_ vanquished me." Harry wanted to wash his mouth out for evening uttering the word, "You failed to protect something I trusted you to safeguard!" With that statement, Bellatrix's already pale complexion paled even further as she shuddered in fear, and dropped herself flat to the ground.

"Mass-ter, I-I I tri-" _"Crucio!"_

Harry cursed her again, he held it for longer this time as the dark adrenaline rush of the curse started to affect him.

Harry threw the contract and the blood quill through the bars of her cell, "Sign that, then I will take back what you have failed to protect."

Bellatrix shaky form crawled over to the contract and picked up the quill, she gave it a small caress before she signed her name without evening flinching as the blood was drawn from her hand.

She handed it back through the bars to Harry, "My-y Lo-ord."

Harry took the contract and quill and stuffed them back into his pocket, he fingered the wand in his hand as he fought with himself over what to do; Harry could feel the darkness of the prison and the cruciatus curse affecting him as he glared down at Bellatrix's prostrating form, the tip of the wand starting to flicker a dark green.

"_Young one, let us depart."_ Harry heard Fawkes voice in his head, as he snapped his eyes away from Bellatrix, before closing them and centering himself, he then stalked down the corridor to where Fawkes was hiding.

Fawkes jumped down from his hiding place onto Harry's shoulder as Harry morphed back to his usual appearance, "Thank you Fawkes." Harry took some deep breaths before he centered himself even further and nodded at Fawkes as the phoenix sung a gentle song to help him out.

"To Gringotts." Harry spoke once his mind was clear.

Fawkes let out a trill and the two disappeared from Azkaban in a flash of crimson fire, to reappear moments later in the director's office at Gringotts, "Director Gronuck." Harry gave the slightly startled goblin leader a bow before he withdrew the contract and quickly signed his own name on it, before handing it over to the now stunned goblin.

"Mister Potter, you must have been most persuasive to get it signed so quickly." Gronuck said with a dark gleam in his eye, the goblin waved his hand over the contract and muttered some words Harry couldn't understand, when the contract glowed white the goblin's eyebrows disappeared as he stared hard at Harry for several seconds before shouting something over his shoulder in Gobbledegook.

A moment later a goblin Harry belatedly recognised as Griphook walked through the rear doors of the office with a cushion in his arms carrying the cup of Helga Hufflepuff, Harry wanted to destroy it immediately but he didn't think drawing a sword in the director of Gringotts office would be a good idea.

Harry gingerly took the cup and nodded at Griphook, before he turned to face the director, "Director, may you gold always flow." Harry said before bowing and disappearing in another flash of fire before the two startled goblins.

Harry appeared in the middle of the office which became silent as everyone stopped mid-sentence , until they all saw the cup floating just above his hand at which they all started clapping and cheering him. Harry nodded at them and gave them all a slightly forced smile that none but the headmaster and Croaker noticed, before raising his hand for peace, they all stopped and Harry floated the cup out in front of him, the ministry lot all gasped at the casual use of wandless magic, and some screamed when the sword of Gryffindor appeared in Harry's hands, the screech of the soul fragment, had everyone covering their ears.

When the screams were over, everyone gazed at the ruined remains of the cup before Harry lazily floated it back to him and into his special box.

"He's mortal." Amelia said.

Dumbledore spoke before Harry could correct her, "Not quite yet, I'm afraid" At seeing everyone's puzzled looks Harry explained before the headmaster could.

"He is currently living off a human host, in a kind of spirit form. Even with all his anchors destroyed if he is removed from that host he will not die."

"Your research project." Croaker spoke seemingly to himself.

"Yes Algie, my project is to find a means to capture or kill his spirit form. I was hoping you might kno-"

Harry stopped in mid-word and closed his eyes, before anyone could ask him what was wrong his eyes snapped open, and those that saw them would remember them till their dying day.

The raw unrelenting power and fury within would have petrified even the dark lord; Harry's magic exploded out of him and sent everyone flying backwards, as a golden aura of magic flowed out of him wrapping around his body like flowing armour.

With an almighty crack like thunder Harry apparated out of the office and through the wards of Hogwarts, his parting words still lingering in the ears of those present.

"_**The Burrow is under attack!**_"

* * *

A/N - Merry Christmas XD


	22. C 21 : Rebirth

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – Yes I know, I'm evil, and you all hate me, and its been 6 months etc etc. Well here you go, I hope you like. And I am sorry its taken sooo long, I've had some serious issues to contend with, and a massive case of writer's block, but most of those are dealt with now, so with some luck the next chapter should be up "relatively soon"...

* * *

**Rebirth**

Dumbledore sighed as he adjusted his glasses, looking unseeing over the paperwork on his desk, he thought back to all that had happened the previous night, a subconscious shudder went down his spine as he recalled the list that had been given to him by Rufus earlier:

_The Battle of the Burrow:_

_Dead - Twenty three.  
__Expected to die within 24 hours - Five.  
__Expected to die within 7 days - Two.  
__Persons missing one or more limbs - Nine.  
__Other serious injuries - Twelve.  
__Minor injuries - Three._

"So much pain. So much death." he sighed and looked across at the empty perch beside his desk, he had witnessed what Fawkes and the others had done with his own eyes, and he still had trouble believing it...

He looked across to the ring on a metal chain, sitting on a small cushion by some of his shiny trinkets, he saw first hand what power that ring used to possess, yet now it was just another ring, its power gone.

* * *

The occupants of the headmasters office gathered themselves together after Harry's abrupt departure, Rufus quickly dived for the floo to gather reinforcements, whilst Dumbledore turned to ask Fawkes for help, only to see an empty perch, hoping and praying that his companion had gone to aid Harry, he quickly sent off a patronus to McGonagall to tell her of the situation, before making a portkey for them to take to Devon.

The party of seven landed just south of the Burrow's orchard, or rather just south of where the orchard should have been, it was destroyed, they could see unmoving misshapen forms littering the ground, some were clearly recognisable as bodies, others were mangled beyond recognition, a few were moaning and twitching slightly, there were fires dotted around of varying colours, the stench of blood, and death in the air, their skin tingled from the excess magic still lingering in the air, a scream of pure agony snapped them out of their stupor with a vengeance as they stormed full tilt into the remnants of what was evidently one of the biggest magical battles in history.

Remus being the fastest of the group was the first to see the house itself, and skidded to a stop with everyone doing the same beside him, "Dear Merlin!" And similar utterances were spoken by all.

Remus exchanged a look with Sirius, who nodded and transformed before they both bounded straight towards the large pile of timber and stone, that used to be a home.

There were nearing the rubble, when with a flash of blue light a body appeared beside them, Remus quickly dived towards the still form of Molly Weasley his wand waving frantically over her, seconds later there was another blue flash as her husband appeared beside her, Sirius dived for Arthur transforming back in mid leap and began waving his wand over him.

"We need healers now!" Both the marauders shouted, as they desperately worked on the Weasley parents.

A moment later there was the sound of a massive displacement of air as a large group portkeyed into the area, the group that were standing spun with wands raised, only to lower them again when they recognised Rufus at the helm of what looked like the entire Auror corp, Dumbledore's voice carried across the scorched landscape "We have injured here!"

Without being told, two people separated from the group, accompanied by four aurors and sprinted towards the Hogwarts contingent, the healers had only just begun their initial assessment when the air suddenly became still, as silence descended across the landscape, before it was promptly shattered.

"**NOOOO**"

The cry of anguish ripped through the air and seemed to penetrate into their souls, most of those standing staggered from the pain in the cry, only to collapse completely when the second cry came.

"**GINNY!**"

Those able all looked towards the remains of the house before they had to shield their eyes as a golden blast of light brighter than the sun and with the force of an explosion, flung the debris in all directions. Some dived for cover whilst other's raised shields, but neither actions were necessary.

The debris seemed to hang in the air, suspended by the golden field of energy, before it started to swirl around in a gigantic vortex. Through the debris and the glow two small forms could be made out, one was clearly Harry, and he was arcing out raw magic like there was no tomorrow. The other form had long red hair matted with blood and dirt, Harry was holding the limp form into his chest as he sobbed out his anguish, those with keener eyes could make out the small heap of feathers beside them.

He let loose another cry, and the vortex started to speed up. Dumbledore shared a look with Croaker, before they sprang into action, "**Everyone fallback!**"

Dumbledore's magically enhanced voice conveyed his alarm and the urgency to everyone, the younger aurors tried to apparate away, but just ended up stumbling where they stood.

It was Croaker who provided the answer, "**There's too much magic in the air!**"

"**Over the hill to the Lovegoods. They have a floo!**" Sirius shouted out.

Rufus came up to Amelia, "Minister you need to get out of here." The lady in question took another look through the maelstrom of magic and debris towards Harry before nodding to her old friend, and heading off to the Rookery along with the aurors and the healers who were still frantically working on the Weasleys, with Tonks by their side having been ordered by Kingsley and Sirius to go with them to St. Mungo's.

Albus and Algie were about to start discussing their limited array of options, when a flash of fire from above the maelstrom caught their attention.

"Fawkes." Albus whispered.

Before he could begin to think about calling out to his companion, there was another flash of fire as a second Phoenix appeared above the debris field, this one a gleaming royal blue, and started circling it with Fawkes.

Before the wizards could even glance at each other in shock, another phoenix appeared, and a fourth and a fifth, in less than a minute there were a dozen phoenixes each a different colour, circling above the vortex. As one they all dived down through the maelstrom of debris and magic and landed in a circle around Harry & Ginny.

* * *

In the Hogwarts staff room, McGonagall and the majority of the rest of the staff were having an impromptu meeting about the changes in Dumbledore.

"I'm telling you its Potter. The Headmaster has grown extremely attached to the boy, in a very short space of time, I wouldn't be surprised if it was his idea for Albus to step down from the Wizengamot." Severus Snape said, to the mild shock of most present.

Before anyone could say any more a phoenix patronus flew in and spoke in the voice of the one they were just discussing, "There has been an attack at the Burrow, I have gone to help, Harry is with me."

Minerva quickly stood up, "I shall go to the tower and keep an eye on the Weasley's there, until we hear more. Filius, Pomona, Severus, I suggest you all go to your houses and make sure things are in order, the rest of you, relieve the prefects of their patrols, we have no way of knowing if this attack is part of something bigger." Those who knew her the best could detect the apprehension in her voice.

No one saw the smirk worn by a certain turban wearing defence teacher...

* * *

Albus knew that Harry could talk with Fawkes mentally, and guessed that his companion had said something to calm Harry as the vortex stilled and the debris dropped to the ground, the golden energy field still surrounding him.

As the dust from the debris settled, the onlookers could only stare in amazement as the phoenixes all took off, and started flying in a circular formation around Harry. Half of them were flying clockwise with the other six flying counter-clockwise in an overlapping and interlocking pattern.

The flying alone was a marvel to behold, then they started singing. Albus was the only one of the group that had ever heard Fawkes truly sing, but that was nothing compared to this. They could literally feel their life forces start to regenerate from the power in the song.

The old headmaster and the unspeakable had only been paying attention to the phoenixes, but the marauders hadn't.

"HARRY!"

The pair of them shouting out over the phoenix song focused everyone's attention to the wizard in question. Harry was clearly focusing very hard, as the energy field seemed to shrink down and coalesce around him.

The phoenix song was starting to build to a crescendo, the four were all standing together, trying to get a glimpse of what was happening, they all saw the golden light expand from Harry and wrap itself around Ginny and the pile of feathers.

The light started to pulse in time with the singing, as the four onlookers had to sit down because of the power in the air, as the song seemed to begin a new verse, Remus started screaming in agony.

"Moony!' Sirius tried to stun his friend, but the magic in air made the stunner dissipate almost immediately. Albus and Algie had to pull Sirius away, as Remus started to glow in the golden light as well, as he thrashed about on the ground.

* * *

"Master what is this mirror?" Quirrell asked, as he dispelled five wards from around it.

"_Let me sseee._" the voice of Lord Voldemort answered.

Soon Quirrell had his back to the mirror of Erised as Voldemort examined it closely. "_Hmm, this is interesting._" After a long while Voldemort spoke again, "_Turn around Quirrell._" When his servant had done as he requested Voldemort gathered all the strength he could whilst leaving Quirrell with enough power to live for a few minutes.

With his strength gathered Voldemort gave his servant the instructions, "_I am going to leave you, you will then clear your mind of all thought, and focus on merely getting the stone __**not **__using it. Is that clear?_"

"Yes Master."

* * *

Remus was still screaming and thrashing around on the floor, only Albus and Algie overpowering a silencing charm kept his screams quiet. Remus suddenly stilled, as one the three turned towards Harry, only to have to shield their eyes as Harry's body literally exploded in golden flames.

The flames spread out from Harry as the phoenixes themselves started to glow with bright luminescent golden flames, as they sped up and became nothing but a golden ring of light and fire around him.

Remus's body started to slide across the earth towards the mage as the flames covered Ginny, and the pile of feathers.

The singing got louder and faster as the golden flames around Harry intensified, the song reached a crescendo and with the final note, the flames exploded out from Harry covering Ginny, Remus and the scorched earth around them, as it spread out around him in a hemisphere.,

The three wizards each threw up their strongest shield's as the wall of golden flames neared them. The flames passed straight through the shields as if they weren't there, they all groaned and grunted in pain as the various marks and scars on their bodies healed in an instant. The flames traveled out behind them for another twenty or so meters before they dissipated.

The looked back towards Harry, Dumbledore had to hold his glasses on his face, as with his mended nose they wouldn't stay on. What they saw would never leave them.

Harry and Ginny were locked in a passionate embrace as a pure white phoenix tested its wings beside them. Surrounding them was a ring of ash, with twelve small lumps wriggling in it. Beyond the ring lay Remus who was just beginning to stir, looking younger than anyone had seen him for years.

* * *

"Mas..tter-" the weak and pale form of Quirrell murmured as Lord Voldemort stood in front of his dying servant, a fresh body made from the blood of his servant and the stone in his hand.

He wandlessly summoned Quirrell's wand and casually cast a killing curse at him, to silence his moans. Voldemort looked at the wand in his hand, it was nothing like his old wand but it felt right in his hand, 'must be his blood that connects me to this wand' the dark lord mused.

He checked the time and reasoned he still had time before Dumbledore returned to the castle with the Potter boy.

He sat down crossed legged on the floor and set the philosophers stone down in front of him, and began the ritual he had discovered then heavily modified that would infuse the stone's regenerative properties into himself.

He drew the runes flawlessly around the stone and his heart, before he started chanting, the stone started to pulse a deep red colour in sync with his heartbeat before it rose up from the floor. It glowed a bright scarlet before it flew towards the dark lords heart, the stone sunk through his flesh and melded itself into his heart.

The dark lord stopped chanting and closed his eyes as he felt the power of the stone course through him. He stood and was about to make his way out, when he stopped and frowned before turning to face the mirror, he waved the wand across in front of him, and a faint blue bubble became visible around the mirror.

Cursing his former servants incompetence he made to leave the dungeons quickly when a bright flash of fire appeared behind him...

* * *

Albus, Algie and Sirius all ran towards the others, Sirius quickly knelt down beside his friend "Moony?"

"Padfoot, I... I think Moony is gone." Sirius frowned at him whilst Albus and Algie raised their eyebrows.

"Remus if i may?" Albus asked as he gestured with his wand, Remus nodded his consent, and the headmaster spoke a long spell that made Remus glow a soft white.

With the confirmation of what he was feeling, the former werewolf broke down crying.

The sobbing werewolf brought the attention of the two young lovers back to the present, "I love you Ginny. But please never do that to me again."

Ginny embraced her husband in a hug and spoke in his ear but loud enough for all to hear, "I'll do my best if you promise to do the same. And I love you too."

"_Master! O master this is wonderful._" Harry looked around before his eyes settled on the white phoenix staring at him, he blinked repeatedly before he spoke, "Hedwig?"

The phoenix let out a short happy trill, "_Yes Master, I'm soo happy I can finally talk back to you._" With that the phoenix hopped up onto Harry's shoulder and headbutted him in affection, Harry started laughing as he stroked his familiars feathers.

Ginny smiled and started stroking her as well, before a cough drew them away from the former owl.

Harry looked up at the headmaster, "Yes Albus?"

The old wizard tried several times to start a sentence only close his mouth, before he finally settled on, "Are you alright?"

Harry smiled at him and gave Ginny a squeeze, "A bit tired." He looked down at his wife and at the phoenix still playing with itself on his shoulder, before looking back to the headmaster, "But yeah I'm alright."

A small chirp drew everyone's attention to the ring of ash, Harry knelt down and scooped up a baby phoenix, "Oh Fawkes." Harry handed the baby phoenix to its companion, before he gathered up the rest, "I don't think Hagrid would mind looking after some phoenixes for a few days."

Everyone shared a small laugh before Ginny sobered everyone, "Where's Mum & Dad?"

Harry closed his eyes and felt Ginny hug him harder before Sirius spoke, "St Mungo's. Kingsley and Tonks went with them, they were pretty badly hurt."

"You need not ask Mrs Potter. Come we will have to head to the Lovegoods to get out of here." Albus said as both he and Algie glanced at the young mage who suddenly found Hedwig's feathers rather fascinating.

Before they set off Remus knelt down in front of Harry, before he could speak he saw Harry's eyes widen before he broke into a face splitting grin and half strangled the marauder with a hug. Remus quickly returned the hug, a few tears leaking out as he did.

Sirius had just whispered to Ginny what happened and she soon joined her husband in hugging the former werewolf.

The group made their way towards the Lovegoods, they made for a rather odd sight when they reached the Rookery, two hugging pre-teens, with a white phoenix on their shoulders, two hugging adults, and two old men carrying a dozen baby phoenixes between them.

Luna and Xeno greeted the group with wary reactions, they had seen and felt the golden blast of light, the white phoenix eased their fears pretty quickly when she hopped onto Luna's head and gave a little trill.

Luna then completely ignoring the unspeakable, took a baby phoenix from Algie, "Aww, daddy, can we look after them, please?" When she turned the full force of her doe eyes on her father, Albus and Algie they all quickly caved and the dozen baby phoenixes settled down on the table in front of the fireplace.

With a quick goodbye the group left with Harry and Hedwig bringing up the rear as he wanted to say thank you to all the phoenixes, he gave Luna a quick hug and Xeno a handshake before flooing to St. Mungos.

He arrived and was instantly joined by Ginny, who gasped the second she saw him in the light of the hospital. Ginny gestured to his forehead when Harry quirked a eyebrow at her, he frowned and quickly conjured a mirror, only to almost drop it in shock, his scar was gone!

Albus had heard Ginny's gasp and locked eyes with Harry when he looked up from the mirror, his own eyes widened when he too noticed the lack of scar, he smiled as his eyes twinkled in joy.

Harry smiled as well, as Hedwig sensing her masters joyous mood, flew off around the waiting room singing.

Sirius and Remus had gone on ahead to find out where the Weasley's were, whilst Algie had returned to the ministry.

With the insane amounts of magic gone from the air, Harry was able to reconnect with all of the charms and wards he had keyed to him.

When he tried to reconnect with his wards in the dungeons of Hogwarts, he froze, Ginny's hand separated from his as his eyes darkened in rage and his magic started swirling around him again.

He looked up to Albus who was now looking at him with real fear in his eyes, already knowing in his heart what the young mage was going to say.

"_**The Stone!**_"

Dumbledore's face drained of all colour along with Ginny's.

Harry snapped his wand out and was consumed by fire, but not before Ginny's shout reached his ears.

"**Harry no!**"

Harry appeared at the entrance to the final chamber and held back his shiver of dread at the sight of Voldemort standing tall and looking more human than Harry had ever seen him.

Voldemort overcame his shock at Harry's entrance and the sheer amount of power the boy was displaying, "Harry Potter."

"Tom Riddle." Harry spat as he glared at the dark lord.

Glowing green eyes met malevolent red, as both wizards sized each other up, unconsciously letting their magic bleed into the room. Harry's eyes caught the pale and clearly dead body of Quirrell behind the dark lord, and guessed that he had made the body that now stood in front of him.

The leaders of light and dark stared each other down for what seemed like hours, before as one they raised their wands and fired.

"**Avada Kedavra!**"  
"**Confodio!**"

* * *

A/N - Come on be honest, who hates me? XD Seriously tho, what did you guys think?


	23. C 22 : Death

Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, blah blah blah.

A/N – I know, I know! Save your curse words, they have no effect on me, I'm just... well truthfully I've been lacking the will to live since, well actually for most of 2013 actually, so finding the motivation to write has been next to impossible. But 2014 is going okay so far there have been a few ups and downs, but I'm hanging on in there. So considerably later then I intended and I'm sure far far later than you wanted, here it is Chapter 22!

* * *

**Death**

Ginny was still staring at the spot where her husband had just flamed out from when the stunner hit her, she crumpled to the floor instantly; Hedwig let out an almighty screech and flew over to settle on her masters mates chest glaring daggers at Dumbledore.

"Albus!?" Remus asked, as he and Sirius came sprinting back round the corner after hearing Harry's shout.

"She would have insisted on coming along."

"Coming along? What are you on about, and where has Harry gone?" Sirius asked.

"The Castle, Voldemort has acquired the Philosophers stone. Harry will engage him, I stunned Mrs Potter to protect her, as well as ourselves, as I'm fairly certain Harry would have killed us if we brought her along."

The two marauders shared a quick look and both silently agreed with the old mans theory.

Albus took a deep breath before beginning a light run to the ground floor, the marauders kept pace with the old wizard, it was Sirius who spoke between breaths.

"Why can't you just portkey us straight to the third floor?"

Albus, being much more winded than the other two, answered in short bursts.

"I could. Only. Go to. My office. But now. Harry is. Master. Of the wards. I can't. We will. Have to. App-apparate. To the gates."

The trio made it to the lobby and ignoring the startled looks from the other patients and healers, ran straight across it and through the door, once outside they all completely disregarded the statute of secrecy and apparated in full view of over a dozen muggles.

* * *

Both spells splashed harmlessly across shimmering shields, Harry smirked in smug satisfaction when he saw Voldemort's eyes widen at the sight of his killing curse being stopped by a shield.

"You are more skilled than I hoped Potter." Voldemort said as the two combatants slowly circled each other in front of the mirror.

Harry didn't bother answering with words, instead he launched a volley of curses and hexes with such speed and ferocity that the dark lord had to actually dodge some instead of shielding against them.

Even then one piercing hex still got through the dark lords defences and clipped him in the shoulder, as the dark lord winced in pain and staggered back half a step from the impact, Harry raised his wand and prepared to launch another volley, before he could start, he watched dumbstruck as the wound on Voldemorts shoulder healed itself, the flesh regenerating in seconds.

Voldemort smirked at the dumbstruck look on his opponents face, "Do you like what I've done with the stone Harry?"

Harry gave a grudging nod in acceptance as he gripped his double phoenix feather wand a bit harder quickly realising that the difficulty of his task had just increased exponentially.

Within the confined space of the dungeon chamber Harry's style of curses and hexes was far more effective than Tom's style of dark spells and transfiguration. That said, Voldemorts regenerative abilities combined with Harry's fatigue stacked the odds heavily in favor of the Dark Lord.

The two titans of magic tried their utmost to kill or mortally wound the other, other than his opening salvo, the dark lord didn't fire any killing curses or even a cruciatus in an effort to conserve his magic.

Spells splashed across shields, hit the dungeon walls, or destroyed conjured items or hit summoned stone rubble. Soon all manor of debris was flying around the room, or transfigured into rabid animals.

With the amount of damage done to the walls, it was only the sheer strength of Hogwart's that was preventing the entire room from collapsing on top of the two of them.

Harry managed to gain an advantage when the dark lord conjured a python and told it to bite the young mage, only to stumble in shock when Harry spoke to the snake and ordered it to bite the dark lord, Voldemorts shock was soo great the python managed to get close enough to bite him in the leg.

The sudden pain from the bite snapped the dark lord out of his stupor and he quickly vanished the snake, but the momentary distraction was all the opening that Harry needed.

The dark lord couldn't raise his wand to get a shield up in time, and with his leg still regenerating from the bite, his mobility was greatly reduced, the light wizard took full advantage and unleashed his full might into a barrage of blasters, piercers, and cutters.

The spell salvo was launched with so much intensity that the spells blurred together, the dark lord managed to avoid the first couple by diving to the ground, but Harry wasn't the most feared Law man in the world for nothing, and anticipated the dark lords dive, the rest of his salvo slammed straight into Voldemort, and sent the dark lords now heavily battered and bloody body flying across the room and into the far wall.

Pressing his advantage home, Harry brought his off hand to bear for the first time, snapping out the dark lords own wand, and flinging spell after spell after spell at the dark lord's body.

After a minute of endless spellfire Harry lowered his guard and put Voldemorts wand back into its holster. His magical senses were severely dampened not only by his fatigue but also by the amount of magic lingering in the air, so he couldn't feel if the dark lord was dead.

Drawing on some gryffindor recklessness Harry approached the bloody pulp that used to be Voldemort, as he got closer Harry started to feel the beginnings of magical exhaustion, he briefly paused and shook his head to try and keep himself conscious.

The dark lord was experiencing pain greater than any he had experienced before, he could feel every cut, and every hole that the Potter boy had made, he could feel his magic combining with that from the stone to repair the injuries, he slowly regained his awareness as his body restored itself. The stone's regenerative powers having to work overtime to overcome the amount of damage Harry had managed to inflict. He felt the warm handle of his wand still in his mangled hand; he gathered what reserves of magic he could spare, and as soon as he felt the regeneration begin to show, he struck.

Harry was taken completely off guard by the dark lords attack, and only managed to dodge part of it thanks to his lightning reflexes, but he knew deep in his heart that the fight was already over.

Their second duel was as brutal as it was short, in less than thirty seconds a barely conscious and bleeding profusely Harry Potter lay on the dungeon floor, whilst the dark lord stood over him.

"You are weak Harry Potter, and now you shall die." Voldemort said as he raised his wand.

"**Avada Kedavra!**"

Harry stared through bloodied eyes at the green bringer of death that came towards him, _'I love you Ginny.'_

With a flash of white and a screech the killing curse was stopped in its tracks, a cloud of ash fluttering to the ground, with gleaming white feathers scattered around it.

"Hedwig... **HEDWIG!**" Harry screamed.

Looking up from the baby phoenix to the dark lords shocked form, Harry felt something snap inside of him, as he raised his hand and unleashed magic reserves he didn't know he had.

The blast of raw unfocused magic slammed the dark lords battered and now burnt and crispy body into the far wall so hard that it was embedded several feet into the solid stone.

Harry slumped back to the ground as his arm dropped beside him, he tried to summon Hedwig to him, but realised he had used all his magic up, he was running on empty. Knowing he only had a minute at most before exhaustion claimed him, he crawled over to where baby Hedwig was chirping at him from, "Hey girl, thanks for the help."

Harry was just closing his eyes when a noise from behind him dumped a shedload of adrenaline into his system as his eyes snapped open, and he spun round.

There dragging himself out of the wall was Voldemort, still alive despite the massive damage to his body,

Harry wanted to slump back down in defeat, but using strength he didn't know he possessed, Harry climbed to his feet. He wouldn't give the monster the satisfaction of killing him on his back, he would die on his feet like his parents before him, like Sirius and like Remus, '_I'm sorry. Ginny_'

The dark lord glared at him as he raised his wand, this time he didn't bother with gloating or words.

"**AVADA KEDAVRA!**"

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was also using strength reserves he didn't know he had as he ran at a full sprint all the way from the gates to the third floor corridor. The senior staff joined up with the trio from St. Mungo's outside the locked door, having been ordered there by a patronus from the headmaster, sent as he arrived at the gates.

Poor Fluffy was brutally smacked aside by the only man Voldemort feared, as the group of Albus, Sirius, Remus, Minerva, Filius, Pomona and Severus, all jumped down the trap door, the devils snare was already burnt to a crisp before Sirius had landed on Dumbledore's cushioning charm.

Filius quickly worked around the enchanted keys and the group made their way into the large chess chamber when they were stopped dead in their tracks by the person emerging from the next room.

Angry blood red met ice cold furious blue as Voldemort and Dumbledore stared at each other for a moment before they both pounced.

Voldemort shot a killing curse at the old man only for it to be stopped by a now fully animated chess piece, courtesy of McGonagall. Dumbledore attacked with his fire-whip spell, Voldemort flung the incoming spell away with a fire whip of his own, this one comprised of black flame.

The two marauders had been momentarily shocked at seeing the dark lord in the flesh, both of them trying not to think of what it meant regarding Harry. They overcame the shock and started flinging the most powerful and deadly spells they knew, the other teachers had also started firing curses with the exception of Snape, who was staring at the dark lord, indecision written all over his face.

"Severus, kill the others the old man is mine!" Voldemort shouted out over the sound of spellfire.

"Severus!" Voldemort shouted again when his loyal servant did nothing.

"No!" Snape's shout stunned the dark lord enough for several spells to hit him, he merely shrugged them off with a half step back as his body regenerated.

Voldemort stared at his servant whilst everyone felt their hopes plummet at his regenerative abilities.

"**What did you say!?**" Voldemort screamed.

"I said **NO!**" With that the fighting resumed with Snape showing why he was considered one of the best fighters in the death eater ranks.

The light fighters were beginning to make some ground, as Voldemort had to rely more upon dodging then shielding. But Tom managed to get an unknown spell through McGonagall's defences, she went down instantly, the animated chess pieces all stopping and collapsing with her.

Seeing one of their own go down the light started to lose hope, with every spell they were able to land on Voldemort he just regenerated and carried on fighting.

The Dark Lord saw his enemy's resolve falter but knew he too was struggling, he could feel his magic reserves waning, so he tried to gain a psychological edge, "Are you not concerned for your great champion, Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore didn't answer with words he just focused harder on fighting as his spells became brighter.

"I must confess he fought better than I expected, but he was no match for Lord Voldemort!"

"You are no lord Tom."

Voldemort snarled at the old wizard as he continued being selective with his spells, and dodging a lot more than shielding.

Albus, Filius and Severus were the only ones who picked up that the dark lord was being very picky with his spell choice, using only spells with a minimal magical component, and that he was moving a lot more.

Dumbledore knew that they would have to actually fight as a team to defeat Tom, instead of just a group of individuals.

Before Albus could begin shouting orders for teamwork, Sprout went down to a cutting curse across her torso.

After another couple of minutes, with everyone moving around to dodge the dark lords attacks, Snape ended up beside the two marauders, when Sirius had an idea.

"Even Rosier, 6th year!" Hoping that his year mates knew what he was on about, Sirius advanced.

Remus caught on to Sirius's plan immediately, and began to advance as well, Snape was only a few seconds behind Remus in figuring it out.

With the three year mates advancing to surround Voldemort, Albus and Filius shared a split second look, and moved to flank the dark lord from behind.

Voldemort quickly worked out that they were trying to surround him, but with is magic waning there was nothing he could do, except move.

So he did; he started to back up trying to keep them all in front of him, Sirius proved his marauder status when he flung a spell wide of the dark lord.

Voldemort assumed Sirius had just missed and ignored the spell, when a second went wide he forgot about them, until a powerful set of jaws clamped around his wand arm. Instinctively he dropped his wand and tried to swat the transfigured creature away, too late he realised his mistake.

Before the dark lords wand had hit the floor, a trio of killing curses came flying at him along with a high-powered explosion curse. Dumbledore flung a blasting curse at the wand before sending a pure white lance of magic at Voldemort's chest.

Voldemort spun his body round and used the creature still clamped to his arm to take two of the killing curses, the third caught him in the back of the shoulder, followed instantly by the explosion curse, which blew his entire right arm clean off; the explosion turned him back around to face them, as the white lance of magic from Dumbledore reached him and struck him square in the chest.

Voldemort clutched his chest with his remaining hand has he collapsed to his knees, the fighters all ceased firing as they watched the dark lord struggle to breath.

Once again the side of the light could do nothing but stare and watch in abject horror as his breathing eased and a new arm started to grow out of his shoulder.

As the dark lord climbed back to his feet he spoke, "You see old man, unlike all of you, including your precious boy-who-lived, I am immort-Ack!" Voldemort gasped in pain as he looked down at the silver sword protruding from his chest, shards of the stone embedded in the blood now covering the blade.

The sword was withdrawn and the Dark Lord fell back to his knees as blood started pouring out of the hole in his chest along with the rest of the stones fragments, his new arm had stopped growing and resembled a babies arm stuck onto his torso.

The fighters all stared at the figure wielding the sword standing behind the dark lord.

"Harry." they all breathed out as one.

There in the doorway down to the dungeons, stood Harry Potter with a baby phoenix on his shoulder, the remains of his clothes soaked through with blood and covered in dust and debris, vast swaths of newly healed skin were visible through his clothes, including the ring on the chain around his neck. Dumbledore gasped as he saw the stone in the ring was glowing an eerily familiar shade of green.

But Harry ignored them all, including the cries of happiness and relief from the marauders, as he walked round the rapidly paling form of Voldemort.

The Dark Lord raised his head to see the one who stabbed him and his eyes widened as he tried to shuffle backwards.

"What's the matter Tom, you look like you've seen a ghost." Harry said as he subtly adjusted his grip on the sword of Gryffindor.

Voldemort was slowly shaking his head as the blood loss and the shock started to get to him, when his eyes laid upon the ring Harry had around his neck, the dark lord tried to lunge at Harry, only to have the sword plunged back through what remained of his heart.

This time Harry kept the blade still as he spoke, "Yes Tom, my sword has destroyed the stone within you, and I have already collected and destroyed all of your precious little trinkets. The diary you gave to Lucius, the ring you hid in your grandfather's home, the diadem you hid here in the castle, the locket you hid in that cave, and the cup you had dear Bella hide in her vault at Gringotts."

The dark Lord's eyes had grown more and more frantic as Harry spoke; when he pulled the sword out, Voldemort tried to speak, "No, mer-mercy."

"Mercy!? You dare ask for mercy after all that you have done!?" With those words Harry pulled out, and swung the sword of Gryffindor through the air towards the Dark Lords neck.

* * *

A/N - And there you have it. I know its not what some of you were hoping for, but this was always my intention for this story. I am tempted to leave it here, and let you use your imagination as to what happened and will happen. But I might do an epilogue if there is enough demand for one.


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